Stuck in the Pits

A Brutal, Devastating Reminder

2011-10-17T13:57:00.002-04:00

I have a saying I've repeated off-and-on over the last couple years: auto racing will never be 100 percent safe. The only way to ensure total safety in racing is to never get involved in it; never climb into a car, never pick up a wrench, never sit in the grandstands.

Safety in motorsports is a relative term; we can make motorsports safer, but we'll never make them safe. Ever. No energy-absorbing wall or crush-panel-lined car or stiffest head-and-neck-restraint device will ever fully protect drivers and those around them.

Sunday gave us all another painful reminder.

Dan Wheldon, two-time champion of the Indianapolis 500, was killed Sunday when he was involved in a scary, 15-car wreck early in the IZOD IndyCar Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I won't provide a link to video or other images of the crash; if you want to see the wreck, you're on your own.

Wheldon, who won the Indy 500 again this past May after J.R. Hildebrand hit the Turn 4 wall on the last lap, was the 2005 IndyCar Series champion, and his 16 IndyCar wins are the fourth-most all-time. By all accounts, Wheldon was a pleasant man with a terrific family who everyone loved.

Now, the very sport he and those closest to him loved has taken him from us.

Wheldon knew the risks; he knew them every time he slipped into the cockpit. Every driver understands the risk involved, even if no one ever talks about it. Safety in motorsports is for other people -- the engineers and scientists, the sanctioning bodies responsible for putting on these races -- to figure out. Just tell the drivers the rules, and they'll follow along.

Part of auto racing's appeal is defying death. We watch these daredevils barrel into the turn at over 200 mph (or down the drag strip at almost 400 mph), not to watch them die, but to see them come out the other side as fit and healthy as they were before. There's a fine line between in-control and out-of-control in auto racing, and watching the drivers and teams straddle that line is part of the appeal.

The safety strides made in NASCAR -- and in other forms of motorsports -- over the past decade have been wonderful, and they're a large reason why we don't see more fatalities than we do. NASCAR hasn't had one on the national level since Dale Earnhardt in 2001; IndyCar's last fatality before Sunday was Paul Dana at Homestead in 2006. Aryton Senna was Formula One's last on-track fatality in 1994.

SAFER barriers, HANS devices, roof flaps, a new-generation NASCAR chassis with crush panels, a more centered driver's compartment and fire-extinguishing system attached to the fuel cell ... all of these innovations have helped. There will always be more work to do when it comes to making auto racing safer, but tremendous strides have been made.

Wheldon got airborne Sunday, as IndyCars so often do. His car erupted in flames, as did several others (Pippa Mann was being treated at a Las Vegas hospital after suffering a burn on her right hand). What I think sealed Wheldon's fate, though, was the fact that he hit the catchfence cockpit-first.

Carl Edwards also hit the catchfence cockpit-first in his Talladega wreck back in 2009, but unlike Wheldon, Edwards had a roof and a roll cage to protect him. Wheldon only had his helmet, exposing dangers specific to open-wheel racing.

IndyCar has been developing a new-generation race car to debut next season, a car that, among other things, is expected to be safer; ironically, Wheldon --who on Sunday morning signed a multi-year contract to replace Danica Patrick in the No. 7 car next season -- was the test driver the series used in developing the car.

Perhaps that is Wheldon's legacy, to leave the IZOD IndyCar Series safer than it was during his career. It's sad that Wheldon will never get to see his work come to fruition, but that's the way it goes, isn't it? The truly legendary and visionary among us never live long enough to see their efforts pay off.

NASCAR is fortunate that Jimmie Johnson emerged from his head-on wreck Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway without anything more than a limp and some soreness the next day. The safety advances are likely responsible for his impact not being more severe.

Still, Johnson is fortunate he walked away -- just like Elliott Sadler was fortunate after his Pocono wreck last season, just like David Ragan, David Reutimann and Denny Hamlin were after their respective accidents earlier this year at Watkins Glen.

Don't let the safety advancements we've seen over the years lull you into a false sense of security; the specter of death, or serious injury, is always there.

Wheldon's death serves as another stark reminder: as long as men and women slip on helmets and climb into race cars -- of any sort -- the possibility of tragedy is ever-present. The day death stops being a part of auto racing is the day there is no more auto racing.

No matter what form of motorsports you follow -- whether you have a clear preference or you follow anything with a motor -- a death on the track is always shocking and heartbreaking. It strikes me how shocking a driver's death is, even though we're always mindful of the potential and understand the risk; we know it can happen, but it's still a punch in the gut when it does.

The world of motorsports, not just IndyCar, is in mourning right now. Important questions need to be answered -- like whether IndyCars should be running on high-speed 1.5-mile ovals -- but this is not the time. Those debates can wait for another day.

Right now, let's remember Dan Wheldon for everything he did on the track, and how his passing affects us all off of it.

And let us never forget just how dangerous this sport we love truly is.

Patrick To Make It Official

2011-08-17T19:58:00.002-04:00

ESPN's Marty Smith reported on Wednesday that IndyCar star Danica Patrick will officially announce her intentions to enter NASCAR full-time next week. Patrick will run the entire Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports next season, while running a handful of Sprint Cup races for Stewart-Haas Racing -- before making the full jump to Cup in 2013.

Frankly, it's about time.

I didn't have an opinion one way or another about whether Patrick should come to NASCAR or stay in the IZOD IndyCar Series -- where she has one career win and is easily the most recognizable name in the series. Her departure will leave IndyCar with some issues (more than it already faces, given the finish to last weekend's race at Loudon, N.H.), but the most important thing here is the fact that she's finally made a decision.

Patrick is the middle of her second season of running a full IndyCar schedule for Andretti Autosport, while running a part-time Nationwide Series schedule in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 7 car. She finished a career-best fourth at Las Vegas in March, and Patrick led several laps in Daytona in July, threatening for the win before being caught in a last-lap wreck and finishing 10th.

I've said before she needs to choose, because jumping back and forth between two completely different race cars throughout a season did her no favors -- in either series. A stock car and an open-wheel car are completely different creatures, and hopping between them can make it hard for Patrick to get a rhythm in either series.

By making her choice, Patrick is removing one of her biggest hurdles to success. She's also making a choice that could improve her career.

Make no mistake: this is not a money move. Patrick is set for life already, and she was going to the bank regardless of where she strapped on a helmet -- you can thank such companies as Motorola and GoDaddy.com for that. She'll make a mint in NASCAR, especially if she succeeds, but that's not the driving force here.

Obviously, Patrick enjoys running stock cars. She enjoys rubbing fenders and mixing it up on the track -- something she can't do in an IndyCar. She's also not much of a road racer, and with the IndyCar Series migrating more and more toward road and street courses, it's no longer really the place for her.

The Nationwide Series only had three road courses on the schedule this season, and will likely have two or three next season -- leaving plenty of oval-track action for her to experience.

Results are also indisputable; Patrick's 2011 NASCAR experience has been much more successful so far than her 2010 foray. She's clearly more comfortable in a stock car than she was in the beginning, and it'll be interesting to see how she progresses as she gets an entire season under her belt (while also seeing just how much of a grind the NASCAR season is -- it's about twice as long as the IndyCar slate).

And if I'm being honest, the attention for NASCAR will be a win-win. Regardless of how one feels about Patrick as a race car driver, there's little doubt regarding her national appeal and the fact that she draws attention to whatever series in which she's competing. You don't think NASCAR is salivating at the thought of her fighting for a Nationwide Series championship next year?

In the end, this could be a good move for Patrick -- especially since she's willing to spend a full year in the Nationwide Series before making the plunge into the Cup Series. Previous open-wheel drivers to make the transition to NASCAR -- Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr., Dario Franchitti, all with far better records than Patrick -- did not make that step, and it showed in their results.

Patrick could be a success in NASCAR. IndyCar without her? Well, that might be a different story.

Special Comment: Safety First -- Always

2011-08-17T11:50:00.002-04:00

There's no question NASCAR has made significant strides in driver safety in the past decade. Following a slew of fatalities in 2000 and 2001 -- Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper and Dale Earnhardt -- NASCAR finally took seriously the sort of safety measures that other forms of racing had long ago adopted.

Full-face helmets became mandatory, as did head-and-neck restraint devices (commonly known as the HANS device). Over the course of several years, most tracks on the NASCAR circuit implemented SAFER barriers, energy-absorbing walls meant to divert force of an impact away from the driver.

Even the new-generation car in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series was designed primarily with safety in mind.

First, the good news: no driver has lost his or her life in a NASCAR national touring series race since Earnhardt in February 2001. But while there's no bad news, the reality remains: there is still work to be done.

Just ask David Ragan, David Reutimann and Denny Hamlin.

Or Brad Keselowski, for that matter.

Ignoring Keselowski for a moment (since the track where he was injured is not a NASCAR-sanctioned facility), consider the plights of Hamlin, Ragan and Reutimann this past Monday at Watkins Glen International.

Hamlin suffered a brake failure heading into the first turn in Monday's race, a hard right-hander following a lengthy straightaway. Barreling through the paved run-off area, Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota slammed head-on into the guardrail, softened only by stacks of tires. Behind the guardrail stood a concrete post and a mound of dirt similar to what we used to see along the Long Pond straightaway at Pocono.

Video of the brutal hit:

Hamlin credited the safety features within the car, as well as a new seven-point seat belt he'd been wearing, for the fact that he walked away from the wreck. The tire barrier also helped, and the guardrail did give under the force of the collision, but wouldn't Hamlin have been better served to crash head-first into a SAFER barrier?

On the last lap, Ragan and Reutimann were involved in a violent crash along the esses. Ragan was tapped by Boris Said and spun head-on into a guardrail jutting out at an awkward angle -- with no tire barrier. Ragan shot back across the track, collecting Reutimann and sending him head-on into another guardrail at a bad angle.

The force of that impact sent Reutimann upside down, shot him back across the track and into another guardrail. Both Ragan and Reutimann emerged from their vehicles, sore but uninjured, but Reutimann's firesuit suffered a tear in the left leg.

Video of that incident:

Watkins Glen should investigate the possibility of adding SAFER barriers at all of the above positions. Not only that, the track should look into the awkward angle its walls take in places where openings are available for safety vehicles to get onto the track. There has to be a way for safety vehicles to get onto the track, while not leaving drivers vulnerable to the kinds of impacts Ragan and Reutimann suffered.

Las Vegas and Richmond have each had that issue, and both tracks have addressed it. Other tracks have added SAFER barriers over the years where there had previously been none. Safety is a constantly-moving target, and NASCAR (as well as other racing series) must be ever-vigilant.

It's easy to look at the above incidents and call them freak accidents, things that would likely never happen again. That might be true, but auto racing is so unpredictable, by its very nature, that one can never assume something will never happen. NASCAR and the tracks it races on must be proactive, not reactive, when it comes to ensuring the safety of its competitors and fans.

Look, auto racing will never be 100 percent safe; the only way to ensure 100 percent safety is to never climb into a race car in the first place. But there is always work to be done to make the sport safer than it was last year, last month, last week.

Monday's race highlighted some safety vulnerabilities at Watkins Glen, and if the track hopes to continue hosting NASCAR's top two national series, it must address those concerns before next year's races. If the concerns are not properly addressed, then NASCAR should stop going to that track.

Ragan, Reutimann and Hamlin are still with us and will race this weekend at Michigan thanks to the safety advancements made over the past decade. That's worthy of praise, but as Monday's race showed us, we're not where we need to be.

Not even close.

Almost There

2011-08-16T10:44:00.002-04:00

With four races to go until the Chase for the Sprint Cup -- and all three national touring series more than halfway through their respective seasons -- a smattering of thoughts and observations as we head down the stretch.

Road Warrior: Conventional wisdom says the racing gods owed Marcos Ambrose one after he lost the Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway. While picking up his first career Cup win on Monday at Watkins Glen makes for a nice story -- it makes Ambrose eligible for the Sprint Summer Showdown and puts him in the Chase wild card conversation -- I have trouble buying into the karma angle.

Ambrose wasn't robbed at Sonoma last season; he made a mistake trying to save fuel under caution and cost himself the win. There's no racing gods or a track owing him anything in that instance; Ambrose made the mistake of cutting off his engine while heading uphill and the car wouldn't re-fire.

Ambrose screwed up that day. On Monday, Kyle Busch screwed up on the green-white-checkered restart. Ambrose and Brad Keselowski pounced, and by the time the caution came out on the last lap for all manner of chaos, Ambrose was out front.

The former V8 Supercar champion (side note: catch a V8 Supercar race on Speed if you can -- it's really entertaining stuff) has proven to be one of the more likable personalities in the Cup garage, and he's proven time and again his proficiency on the road courses. Prior to Monday, Ambrose was a three-time winner at Watkins Glen in the Nationwide Series, and he has also been strong at Sonoma and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Now, he's a Cup Series winner.

Don't simply write Ambrose off as a road course specialist, either; he's proven more than competitive on several oval tracks in his short NASCAR career. Bristol is one of his best tracks, and he's proven competitive at Atlanta and Charlotte. His Richard Petty Motorsports team has shown flashes of brilliance this season, and lets be honest: seeing a Petty team in Victory Lane is often cause to celebrate.

Ambrose deserved to win Monday's race, because he was fast and did everything he needed to do at the end. But let's not act like the cosmic scales are balanced because of what happened at Sonoma last season.

Tough as Nails: When Brad Keselowski broke his left ankle and suffered other injuries during a testing crash at Road Atlanta a week and a half ago -- where his brakes failed and he hit a concrete wall at over 100 mph -- there was a lot of speculation about how he would fare at Pocono and Watkins Glen, two tracks notorious for hard braking and shifting.

His Chase chances, already slim, would take another hit, everyone said. Keselowski would be lucky just to finish either race, they pontificated. At the time, it seemed like a smart thought: as a left-foot braker, Keselowski would be at a disadvantage at both tracks -- and that's not even taking into account how sore his lower back was.

Well, he won Pocono ... then finished second at Watkins Glen.

In the past three races, Keselowski has gone from 23rd to 14th in points, and his Pocono win gives him two for the season. If the Chase started this weekend, Keselowski would be the first wild-card driver.

Drivers excelling while hurt is nothing new; I remember the late Dale Earnhardt setting a track record at Watkins Glen one year while driving one-handed because of a broken collar bone. Terry Labonte wrapped up the 1996 championship while driving with a broken wrist. Ricky Rudd once won at Martinsville despite severely burning his back.

How Keselowski managed to excel the past two weeks is almost beyond me; I think he's proven to the NASCAR community that he can succeed as a Cup driver -- and if we're being honest, there have been times earlier this season where that was in question.

Even if Keselowski makes the Chase this year -- which I think he will -- I don't see him contending for the title. But don't count him out next season.

He Said, Said Said: I find the scuffle between Boris Said and Greg Biffle following Monday's race incredibly laughable and pointless -- mostly because Said shows up so infrequently in the Cup Series that there's really no point in getting into it with him.

Honestly, Said shows up maybe twice a year -- Sonoma and Watkins Glen -- so why would a full-time Cup driver spend so much energy and anger on him, even if he is responsible for a vicious wreck at the end of Monday's race (more on that in a later post)?

Biffle reportedly punched Said through the window of his car after the race, before Said emerged from the car and had to be restrained by several people. Then Said went on ESPN to call Biffle a scaredy-cat and promise a fist sandwich in the future. Biffle took to Twitter (... really?) to blame Said for the wreck that shook up Biffle's Roush teammate David Ragan.

Considering we probably won't see Said at a Cup track until next summer, I really don't see the point in all this. It's not like Said will be at Michigan next week, or in Bristol in two weeks, or Richmond next month. We likely won't see the road specialist until Sonoma next season, so I find it really odd that he and Biffle are this animated.

Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson think they should cool it.

Truck and Nationwide Highlights: Nashville

2011-07-25T11:36:00.002-04:00

With the Sprint Cup Series enjoying its final off weekend of the season, the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series took center stage at Nashville Superspeedway this past Friday and Saturday.

Dillon Making a Charge: Austin Dillon, one of the preseason favorites to win the Camping World Truck Series title this season (and my pick) had a slow start to the season with a 20th-place effort at Daytona, but has started to turn it up of late. After finishing second to Matt Crafton at Iowa, Dillon picked up his first win of the season Friday night at Nashville.

The win was coming -- on top of his strong finish at Iowa, Dillon had a potential winning truck at Kentucky. On top of that, Dillon has started every race in the top five this season outside of a 17th-place qualifying effort at Dover. Qualifying up front makes running these races easier, especially considering how short races in this series usually are.

Dillon rides momentum into Lucas Oil Raceway this weekend and into the second half of the season, and he appears to be the only driver capable of keeping up with, and running down, points leader Johnny Sauter. Sauter has been the model of consistency this season -- he finished second to Dillon on Friday, minimizing his loss in the points -- so Dillon will likely need to keep up his recent pace to catch him.

Still, with 13 races left, Sauter's 18-point lead over Dillon is nowhere near safe.

Stenhouse Continues to Grow: The disappointment on Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s face following Saturday night's Nationwide Series race was palpable. He didn't really care that he'd moved up to second in the points, five behind leader Reed Sorenson; he was too busy lamenting the fact that he finished second to winner Carl Edwards.

Stenhouse, who picked up his first career win at Iowa earlier this season, has shown tremendous growth and speed so far this season -- as evidenced by his finishes and his standing in the points. But more than anything, his disappointment Saturday night spoke volumes. Sure, he lost the race to a teammate (and, surprise, a Cup driver), but you can tell how badly Stenhouse wants to win -- which is impressive, considering the struggles he had a year ago.

Stenhouse has to be considered a co-favorite for the title, along with Stenhouse and Elliott Sadler (who lost the points lead after breaking a rear gear late in the race. Though Sorenson also has a win this season (at Road America), no Nationwide Series regular has shown the speed and the consistent ability to run with the Cup drivers like Stenhouse.

Were it not for the Cup drivers, Stenhouse might have three or four wins by now. As it stands, I think he's been the class for the Nationwide Series field this season, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he hoisted the trophy at Homestead in November.

A Bad Move: I realize I'm a bit late weighing in on the Nationwide Series moving from Lucas Oil Raceway (formerly O'Reilly Raceway Park, formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park) next season to race instead at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the same weekend at the Brickyard 400, but since Indy is the next stop for the Cup Series, now seems like a good time to mention it.

I hate this move. No two ways about it.

I'm the last person to gripe about tracks losing dates (I was bummed when Rockingham lost its dates, but I understood why), but I think NASCAR's decision to run the Nationwide Series at the Brickyard is wrong for a couple of reasons.

It's clear fans are growing weary of stock cars at IMS. The answer to this problem is not more stock cars at IMS. Attendance for the Brickyard 400 was emebarrassingly small last season; yeah, 140,000 fans sounds really good, but when your track can hold as many as 300,000 fans, it's a problem.

Between long stretches of single-file racing and the 2008 tire debacle, I'm beginning to wonder if the Brickyard has worn out its NASCAR welcome. Somehow, I don't think adding the Nationwide Series is going to change things all that much.

As much as I love the Brickyard, let's be honest; NASCAR at the 2.5-mile rectangle isn't the most exciting show in the world. Do we really think the Nationwide Series will produce a better race? It certainly won't put on a better show than it does at the short track now known as Lucas Oil Raceway.

The Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series races at LOR are among the most anticipated and action-packed of the season. Whereas most races in those series struggle to sell tickets, LOR never seems to have attendance problems. The reason is simple: fans love the close-quarters racing.

We need more short tracks in NASCAR, not less.

No offense to the Nationwide Series or its drivers, but letting NASCAR's "Triple A" series run on the historic track takes away some of the mystique. Does winning at the Brickyard really mean all that much if a Cup driver can just drop down and steal a win? Because let's face it; that's exactly what's going to happen.

So enjoy the races at LOR this weekend as much as you can, because as of next season, they won't be around anymore. Which is a damn shame, because that's some of the best racing we'll see all year. Instead, we'll get more single-file parades around IMS, and Kyle Busch will probably steal another win that everyone will try to make us think means more than it really does.

NASCAR really dropped the ball on this one. Big time.

Post-New Hampshire Musings

2011-07-20T14:25:00.002-04:00

A gathering of thoughts and opinions as we head into the final off-week of the Sprint Cup season:

An Awesome Promotion: I remember, when NASCAR's top division was still called the Winston Cup Series, such promotions as the Winston Million and the Winston No Bull 5 -- programs designed to give drivers the chance at $1 million if they won select races. They were cool ideas that emphasized winning and gave both sponsor R.J. Reynolds and NASCAR an extra bit of exposure.

Since entering the sport in 2004, Sprint has created no such program ... until now.

NASCAR and Sprint announced in Loudon, N.H. on Sunday the Sprint Summer Showdown, which would have a combined $3 million payout after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway over Labor Day weekend. Winners of the next five Sprint Cup races -- at Indianapolis, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan and Bristol -- will go into the Atlanta race eligible for the money.

If a driver who won any of those five races also wins at Atlanta, the driver will win $1 million for himself, $1 million for his charity of choice and $1 million for a fan.

Fans can enter here.

Given NASCAR's increased emphasis on winning -- using wins as Chase seeding, offering the final two Chase spots as wild card spots based on wins, giving three bonus points to the driver who wins a race -- this promotion fits the bill. It also increases interest by getting charities and fans involved, and the Sprint Summer Showdown has the potential to make the traditional summer lull more exciting.

All around, I think this is a great move for the sport.

A Made-Up Number: A lot has been made of the fact that Kyle Busch has won 100 combined races between the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series. Frankly, it's all contrived bullshit.

Tell me: before Busch came along, when have we ever lumped together a driver's wins among all the national NASCAR touring series? Never. We talk about David Pearson's 105 Cup wins, not the fact that he's got 106 total wins if you count his Bristol Nationwide Series win from 1982. What about Darrell Waltrip (84 Cup wins, 13 Nationwide wins = 97 total) or the late Dale Earnhardt (76 Cup wins, 21 Nationwid wins = 97 total)?

Or Mark Martin, who has 96 total wins between the three national series?

No, we don't do that with them. We mention Earnhardt and Waltrip as Cup legends; when we talk about Martin, we mention how, until this past weekend, he was the all-time Nationwide Series wins leader ... or we talk about his 40 Cup wins. Not both.

I used to think Busch's 100-win "milestone" was a media-driven thing ... until Busch paraded around with a flag with the number 100 on it, then signed a billboard in Victory Lane commemorating win 100. Oh, and there are shirts for sale commemorating win No. 100.

Look, if you wanna make a big deal of the fact that Busch has tied Martin in Nationwide Series wins, that's fine. It's an impressive achievement, especially when you consider how quickly Busch tied the mark. His 22 Sprint Cup wins at the age of 26 are also impressive.

But lumping all his wins into one category and placing his name on the same list as Pearson and Richard Petty? That's a stretch -- to put it politely.

Wonders Never Cease: Remember before the start of the season, when I said Matt Crafton wasn't a legitimate title contender in the Camping World Truck Series because he couldn't win races?

Oops.

Crafton held off Austin Dillon for his second career win Saturday night at Iowa Speedway, vaulting the driver of the No. 88 to fifth in points, 44 behind leader Johnny Sauter. Crafton has six top-10s in 11 starts this season, and the win could catapult him back into title contention -- especially since no one seems to be dominating.

Don't let Sauter's 22-point lead over Dillon fool you; no one is running away with this championship as we near the halfway point of the season. Things are just as open heading into Nashville this weekend as they were in the season opener at Daytona.

And if Crafton can become a consistent Victory Lane threat? Then I may just be willing to eat some crow.

Special Comment: Completely Unacceptable

2011-07-10T21:50:00.004-04:00

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series debut at Kentucky Speedway was a travesty. Not because Kyle Busch picked up his third win of the season, and not because the field strung out and we saw a lot of single-file racing.

Because as many as 20,000 fans -- with tickets -- never saw a lap.

Seeing as how I follow most of the NASCAR media contingent on Twitter, it became clear to me early on Saturday that traffic surrounding Kentucky Speedway would be a problem. Tales of back-ups on Interstate 71 -- the main road leading to the track -- were rampant, and driver Denny Hamlin even tweeted that he might miss the drivers' meeting because of the traffic.

Ultimately, many fans (who left as many as six or seven hours prior) got to the track and parked after the green flag dropped around 7:45 p.m. Even more fans never found a place to park, and were turned away by track security and Kentucky State Police around halfway as the track started planning exit routes for the post-race traffic.

Still more fans became so frustrated while sitting in traffic that they turned around and went home, giving up on seeing the first Cup race at a track that had clamored for one since it opened in 2000.

Think about that: you pour an untold amount of money into buying tickets for a Cup race (which may or may not include hotel room, meal money and gas fare). Then you spend the day on the road, nervous with anticipation for the race ... only to turn around and head home without ever seeing a lap.

Imagine if that was to be your first-ever Cup race, too. My first Cup race was to be the fall race at Martinsville in 2001, but it rained and I couldn't go back on Monday. So I missed my first Cup race, but that pales in comparison to this. You can't control Mother Nature; the debacle at Kentucky was avoidable.

Track owner Bruton Smith added 40,000 seats to bump the track's capacity to 107,000, then he took a date away from Atlanta Motor Speedway. But Smith and his Kentucky Speedway employees never once thought about accounting for the heavy traffic, or the port-a-potties in the parking lots, or the bathrooms and concession stands in the grandstands.

Oh, fans couldn't bring coolers into the stands, either.

I-71 backups stretching more than 10 miles in length three hours before the start of the race are unacceptable -- but not nearly as unacceptable as the track's response. The track released two statements -- one during Saturday night's race and another on Sunday -- but neither one offered an apology.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is expected to announce on Monday a deal for fans turned away at Kentucky. Talladega Superspeedway issued a scathing statement on Sunday reminding fans that the Alabama track "knows how to put on a race weekend."

Look, I've attended anywhere from three to five races a year for the last 10 years; I understand that, to some degree, traffic is always going to be an issue. When you have anywhere from 60,000-150,000 people entering and leaving a place at the same time, there are going to be backups.

But in my experiences at Richmond, Martinsville, Charlotte, Daytona and Dover, I've never found traffic so bad that I got to the track late ... or turned around to come home ... or got turned away with ticket in-hand because of a lack of parking. And every time there was an issue of any sort at the tracks I mentioned, it was almost always resolved the next time I visited.

Those tracks listen to their fans; will Kentucky? More importantly, will NASCAR make Kentucky listen? If I'm NASCAR, I make it abundantly clear to Smith and his track that if things aren't improved dramatically for the 2012 race, the track will no longer host a Cup Series race.

Heck, I'd threaten to take away the Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide Series, too. Call it punishing the fans if you want, but if the track can't handle that influx of people, if it can't take care of the fans, then the track doesn't deserve to be hosting nationally-sanctioned NASCAR races.

This whole episode was pathetic. Inexcusable. Unacceptable.

The fans are the life-blood of racing. Without the fans, there are no races. People accuse NASCAR of a lot of things, but I've never bought the fact that NASCAR -- and the tracks -- doesn't care about the fans.

I've heard of fans who have already decided to never attend another race at Kentucky. That's not something to be dismissed or taken lightly. Kentucky Speedway has to make it right to the 20,000 fans who paid for a ticket but never saw a lap -- I say a full refund and/or a free ticket to next year's race.

Hell, I'd throw in a $25 gas card for all the gas fans burned sitting in traffic.

I'd also make it right to the fans who did show: more port-a-potties in the parking lots, more parking spaces, more camping spaces, better concession stands, better in-track bathrooms. In conjunction with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I'd make the traffic situation more bearable by adding roads leading into and out of the facility.

Don't tell me the track's rural location makes that a challenge, either; both Bristol and Martinsville are "middle-of-nowhere" tracks, and they don't have nearly the traffic issues Kentucky experienced.

This debacle was a black eye, both for Kentucky Speedway and for NASCAR. Even if NASCAR ultimately had nothing to do with this (the tracks handle logistical things like traffic and facilities, not NASCAR), this episode still reflects poorly on the sanctioning body and the sport. To this point, the 2011 season has been fantastic, and this sort of black eye is the last thing NASCAR needs.

The sport is trying to get fans to come back in a shaky economy; something like this will not do the sport any favors.

Ultimately, single-file racing doesn't really bug me; not every race is going to be a three-wide crashfest, and I can always find something about a race that I enjoy. Simply starting the engines is enough to get me riled up for a NASCAR race, no matter where it is. Hearing fans constantly bitch about how boring it all is pisses me off to no end.

But you know what pisses me off more? Fans who bought tickets never getting to the track or seeing a lap of racing, because the track didn't have the foresight or the common sense to realize the situation in which they'd found themselves. I wasn't even one of the fans ticketed to go to the race, and this whole thing pisses me off.

Smith obviously knew a Cup race at Kentucky would be huge -- he wouldn't have added 40,000 seats otherwise. But to do nothing about the traffic or the facilities for the fans who did manage to get there? There's no excuse.

If I were in charge, I'd give Kentucky Speedway one more chance. If this happens again in 2012, then the track loses its date. The sad part is, a lot of fans probably won't give Kentucky that second chance.

Who Says Road Courses Are Boring?

2011-06-29T09:45:00.002-04:00

I'm baffled by those who say they don't like road courses, because road courses satisfy pretty much every requirement NASCAR fans say they want. Sure, they require drivers to turn left and right, and there are some drivers who would just as soon stick their foot in a meat grinder than turn right, but from a fan's perspective, what could be better?

After watching the Nationwide Series race this past Saturday at Road America, as well as the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday at Infineon Raceway (I still want to call the place Sears Point), I'm wondering why more fans aren't jumping on the left-and-right bandwagon.

Set aside for a moment the winners -- Nationwide Series points leader Reed Sorenson on Saturday and Kurt Busch on Sunday. NASCAR fans are constantly screaming about the so-called cookie cutter tracks, the 1.5-mile tracks that seem to litter the schedule.

Well, the road courses are anything but cookie-cutter. So check.

NASCAR fans say they want action, side-by-side racing with beating and banging and enough fender-rubbing to make a fabricator's head explode. Did you see some of the cars at the end of Sunday's race? With all the bent-up sheet metal and duct tape, it looked like we were at Martinsville, not Sonoma.

Did you see the move Jacques Villeneuve tried to pull in a green-white-checkered on Saturday? Where he tried to make it four-wide on the restart, got his right-side tires into the grass and proceeded to take out Brian Scott and Max Papis? That was a move that would probably lead to the Big One at Daytona or Talladega.

Did you see Tony Stewart dump Brian Vickers? Did you see Vickers pay back Stewart? Did you see Juan Pablo Montoya send Kasey Kahne spinning into the grass? Did you see Brad Keselowski dump Montoya to prevent being wrecked himself?

Why, all that sounds like Bristol before the track added progressive banking.

Everyone points to double-file restarts as the reason road course races have become so rough-and-tumble in recent years, but the restarts were rather calm this past weekend -- Villeneuve's stunt aside. I think we're seeing better road course racing these days because a lot of drivers are getting better at it.

Pretty much all the other incidents I listed above occurred during length green-flag runs.

We're not seeing as many road course ringers as we used to, and the ones we do see aren't doing nearly as well. Boris Said has spent a lot of time in recent years coaching Cup drivers on road course racing, and a lot of testing at places like Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio and Virginia International Raceway have led a lot of guys you might not think of as road course racers to more than hold their own at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.

That's making for more competitive -- and more entertaining -- races.

So again, I ask: who says road courses are boring?

NASCAR Gets It Right: To call the end of Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Road America chaotic would be an understatement. Justin Allgaier took the lead from Michael McDowell on the third and final green-white-checkered restart and appeared to be on his way to his second win of the season.

Then the caution came out on the last lap. All Allgaier had to do was make it back to the finish line -- which is hard to do when you're low on fuel and Road America is four miles long. Allgaier ran out of fuel at Turn 6, and then NASCAR spent several minutes trying to determine whether Sorenson or Ron Fellows would be declared the winner.

Sorenson had been second to Allgaier, but at some point on the last lap, Sorenson slowed and Fellows zoomed past for second. Fellows thought he'd won the race; Sorenson thought Fellows passed him after the caution came out.

The video was quite clearly on Sorenson's side.

Fellows clearly passed Sorenson when the caution flag waved -- a clear no-no. NASCAR deserves credit for both taking the time to review the tape after what was a hectic final few laps and for making the right call.

2012 Hall of Fame Class a Dandy

2011-06-21T09:55:00.002-04:00

Now that I've had roughly a week to digest the 2012 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, I have to say ... it's a pretty damn good class. While some of the sport's pioneers -- Raymond Parks, Herb Thomas, Red Byron, etc. -- were again passed over, and there is legitimate concern their time for induction is drawing short, the 2012 class is an excellent and varied assortment of the best the sport's past has to offer.

One might even call it a template for future classes.

Here's the 2012 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame:

Cale Yarborough: Winner of 83 careers Cup Series races (fifth-most all-time) and three straight championships (1976, 77 and 78), becoming the first driver to win three straight titles. He won the Daytona 500 four times, and Yarborough's 14.82 winning percentage is the ninth-best all-time (and third-best among drivers with at least 500 career starts).

Darrell Waltrip: Tied with Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon for third all-time with 84 career Cup Series wins, while also winning the Cup Series championship in 1981, 1982 and 1985. Waltrip also won the 1989 Daytona 500 driving for Rick Hendrick. After retiring as a driver in 2000, Waltrip moved to the broadcast booth for Fox and Speed, and he has been referred to as the "Jon Madden" of NASCAR.

Dale Inman: The first crew chief to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Inman won eight Cup Series titles -- seven with cousin Richard Petty and one with Terry Labonte in 1984. People seem to agree people like Ray Evernham and Chad Knaus are eventual Hall of Famers, so it's only right that the first well-known crew chief and the best ever gets in before them.

Richie Evans: A nine-time NASCAR National Modified Series champion -- including eight in a rown from 1978 to 1985, Evans was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Evans is the only driver to ever have his number (No. 61) retired by NASCAR, and Evans is the first inductee from outside the Cup Series.

Glen Wood: Driver, crew chief and car owner, Wood is one of the biggest reasons the Wood Brothers have been so successful -- winning at least one race in each of the past seven decades (including this year's Daytona 500 with rookie Trevor Bayne). Glen and his brother Leonard Wood also helped revolutionize the pit stop.

So there you have it: two legendary Cup drivers, a crew chief, an owner and someone from outside the Cup Series to round out a very nice Hall of Fame class. Yarborough and Waltrip were no-brainers (considering Allison got in this year with similar win totals and two fewer championships), so there's not really a lot to say about them.

Inman is notable for the reason I listed above, and Wood should eventually be joined by his brother Leonard in the Hall. Evans is the one who interests me, because of his status as the first non-Cup competitor or contributor to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Considering this is the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and not the Sprint Cup Series Hall of Fame, it's appropriate to induct and consider drivers from other series. Evans' numbers speak for themselves, and I think his induction could eventually open the door for drivers like:

-Ron Hornaday (all-time Camping World Truck Series wins leader with 48 wins, four-time Truck Series champion)

-Jack Ingram (two-time Nationwide Series champion, three-time Late Model Sportman champion)

-Sam Ard (two-time Nationwide Series champion; held virtually every Nationwide Series record before Kyle Busch broke them)

-Jack Sprague (three-time Camping World Truck Series champion)

Naturally, people affiliated with the Cup Series will dominate the Hall of Fame and the attention surrounding it, because the Cup Series dominates all in the world of NASCAR. But it's important for NASCAR and those who vote for the inductees to remember the other divisions and the competitors who shined in them. If we focus solely on the Cup Series, we run the risk of excluding people who are not only worthy, but also tell a more complete story of NASCAR's history.

Hopefully, Evans' induction will open the door for those who never made their names in the Cup Series, by choice or otherwise. The Cup Series is great, but there is a lot more to NASCAR than just the premiere division.

A Title Favorite Emerges

2011-06-21T09:26:00.002-04:00

Fifteen races into the 2011 Nationwide Series season, we're beginning to get a better idea of how the championship might be decided over the summer and fall months -- and along the way, we've discovered an unlikely title contender:

Points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

After finishing second to Carl Edwards in Saturday's race at Michigan, Stenhouse took a two-point lead over Elliott Sadler (my preseason pick to win the title), while Reed Sorenson sits four points back in third. Stenhouse has four top-5s in his last five races, including his first career win at Iowa Speedway on May 22 -- making him the first Nationwide Series regular to win a race since Justin Allgaier won at Bristol in March 2010.

Considering the struggles Stenhouse endured throughout much of 2010, his 2011 resurgence is a pleasant surprise. No doubt bouyed by the overall strength of Ford and Roush-Fenway Racing in 2011, Stenhouse has nonetheless shown speed and competitiveness on several occasions, and easily could've picked up his second win at Michigan.

Among all Nationwide Series contenders, Stenhouse has been the most consistent, recording 11 top-10s and six top-5s in 15 races. He has just two finishes outside the top-15 this season: a 21st at Richmond and a 38th at Talladega.

Sadler and Sorenson aren't to be counted out just yet -- neither is Allgaier, who won at Chicago two weeks ago -- but of those four, Stenhouse has been the most consistent. Sadler's early-season troubles (including a wreck at Daytona) put him behind the eight ball, while Sorenson -- while consistent with five top-5s and 10 top-10s -- just hasn't shown the threat to win that Stenhouse and Sadler have.

Stenhouse has been the only Nationwide Series regular to consistently run with -- and in some cases, outrun -- the Sprint Cup drivers this season, and his performance gets better week after week. Whereas the No. 6 team had speed but couldn't capitalize early in the season (a 14th-place effort at Bristol after leading laps a perfect example), things are starting to come together for that team.

For the time being, I'm going to stick with my preseason pick of Sadler; despite his early-season troubles, Sadler's team has rebounded to the tune of second in points. This is shaping up to be an exciting title fight down the stretch, especially now that we've seen Nationwide Series regulars win two of the last five races.

All I'm saying is, don't count out Stenhouse. He just might be hoisting the trophy when we get to Homestead in November.

NASCAR Fines Childress, Puts Him on Probation

2011-06-06T16:14:00.002-04:00

NASCAR handed out its punishment of car owner Richard Childress on Monday, fining him $150,000 and placing him on probation until Dec. 31 for his altercation with Kyle Busch following Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Frankly, I'm not even sure what probation means for a car owner -- especially since we still can't really tell what probation means for the drivers.

Childress released a statement in which he accepted NASCAR's penalty (I'm pretty sure he can handle $150,000 without any problem), but he did not apologize or express regret in his actions. In today's culture of half-ass, forced apologies, this is refreshing. If Childress really is not sorry he beat on Busch's head, then he shouldn't tell us he is.

Considering Busch's lack of a black eye on Sunday, I'm tempted to fine Childress $250,000 for not hitting Busch hard enough and make him try again -- but that's just the Busch hater in me. I understand NASCAR had to do something, even if it was nothing more than a PR move.

Still, the punishment isn't likely one that will make Childress lose sleep at night. The fine will be little more than a drop in the bucket for him, and I seriously doubt he's worried about being on probation (because let's face it, before Saturday, when was the last time you heard of a NASCAR owner getting in trouble?).

Like the punishments on Busch and Kevin Harvick following their dust-up at Darlington, this one has no teeth. I don't think a punishment was necessary -- fisticuffs in stock-car racing are as old as stock-car racing itself -- but if NASCAR was going to hand out one, why not make it something that would actually bother Childress?

As it is, he makes a donation to the NASCAR Foundation and sits in the proverbial corner to think about what he did.

Fuel Mileage and Fisticuffs

2011-06-06T10:05:00.002-04:00

Quite the weekend for NASCAR, where two of the sport's three national touring series races came down to fuel mileage, while the other was notable not for who won, but for a fist fight that broke out 30 minutes afterward.

Owners, Have At It?: Clint Bowyer dominated the Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday at Kansas Speedway to win at his hometown track, but the fireworks occurred long after the checkered flag waved.

Joey Coulter -- driving a truck owned by Richard Childress -- passed Kyle Busch on the last lap to finish fifth. As he made the pass, Coulter drifted up the banking, forcing Busch to either lift or risk hitting Coulter or the wall (or both). Amazingly enough, Busch lifted, coming home sixth.

On the cool-down lap, Busch rubbed against the right side of Coulter's truck: NASCAR code for "Hey, I don't like what you did." It's a move typical in racing, whether it's after the checkered flag has waved or under caution. Just about every driver has done it at one time.

But 30 minutes after the race, Childress -- all 65 years of him -- apparently had enough. According to reports, he confronted Busch, got the driver in a headlock and (in the words of ESPN's Marty Smith) went to beatin' on his head.

This wasn't just about the incident with Coulter on Saturday, nor was it about Busch's dust-up with Kevin Harvick at Darlington. Busch has been in run-ins with Childress' drivers over the past couple years -- apparently so much so that Childress once told Busch to cut it out before he took care of things himself.

It's unclear what happens to Childress from here; NASCAR on Sunday said Busch did not provoke the attack and had not violated his probation. The sanctioning body will likely punish Childress, probably because it views his behavior as unbecoming of an owner.

Which makes me wonder: if Coulter (or Harvick) had punched Busch, would that fall under "Boy's Have At It?" Does the fact that Childress is a car owner instead of a driver make any difference in this instance?

Putting aside my hatred for Busch as a fan for a second (though I admit, I got a good laugh out of this when I first heard about it), there's an interesting dilemma here. Ignore for a second that Childress is an owner, or the fact that he's nearly Busch's senior by 40 years. Which would NASCAR rather have: two people going at it man-to-man, fist-to-fist in the garage area, or wrecking each other on the track, where other drivers who have nothing to do with the feud might get caught up in something?

Frankly, I'd rather have the fist fight, because it wouldn't endanger or punish anyone else not involved with the feud. As previously mentioned, on-track wrecking can involve other cars. Torn-up sheet metal also means more work for the guys at the shop; you may dump a driver you're mad at into the wall, but in doing so, you just gave his fabricator a few extra hours in the shop.

Let the guys fight it out on occasion. It's safer, and as we saw from the collective NASCAR media orgasm on Saturday and Sunday, it's a hell of a lot more entertaining.

Running on Fumes: For the second straight week, fuel mileage dictated the finish of a race. Two races in fact: the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland and the Cup Series race at Kansas.

Part of it's the new E15 ethanol fuel -- the way it burns and the fact that some teams are still struggling with fueling the car on pit stops. The other part boils down to an abundance of green-flag racing. We simply don't see as many cautions as we used to, especially late in the race, which means drivers are burning off the whole tank as they race toward the checkered flag.

Fans may not like fuel mileage races, but they've been a reality of auto racing from almost day one. Sometimes you get wreck-fests, sometimes you get three-wide at the stripe. Sometimes you get a race shortened by rain and sometimes a race comes down to who can save more fuel.

It happens; it's a simple reality of racing.

Some may be tempted to take something away from Justin Allgaier and Brad Keselowski because they won their respective races on fuel mileage, but they would be wrong in doing so. With competition being what it is today, you take a win any way you can get it, and a fuel mileage wins counts the same a rain-shortened win, which counts the same as if a guy goes out there, leads 200 laps and wins by seven seconds.

Allgaier and Keselowski both had fast cars in their respective races; Allgaier ran in the top 10 and top 5 all night in Saturday's Nationwide race, running down leader Carl Edwards in the final laps in what turned out to be a thrilling battle.

Keselowski was also fast in Sunday's Cup race, running in the top 10 virtually all day. He was almost as fast as his teammate Kurt Busch, who sat on the pole and led 152 laps before fuel strategy dropped him to a ninth-place finish.

Think about that: we're not talking about guys who ran 25th all day stealing a win. Allgaier and Keselowski were fast and competitive this weekend. Did fuel strategy help them? Absolutely, but their wins are no less valid than anyone else's. If anything, they're validated, since many questioned when both drivers would win in their respective series again.

Winning races is hard in NASCAR, so you pretty much take them however you can.

So Close, Yet So Far: Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to win a race this season. It's going to happen.

Fuel mileage worked in Junior's favor at Kansas on Sunday (thanks in part to a spin just after halfway that put the No. 88 on a different pit cycle than the rest of the field); had Keselowski ran out of fuel, Junior would've won his first race in almost three years.

But the win is coming.

Sitting third in points, 41 out of the lead, Junior already has three top-5s (he had two all of last season) and seven top-10s (he had eight all of last season). He finished second in both Kansas and Martinsville, and his seventh-place effort in Charlotte wasn't indicative of how fast he was.

The speed is there (just not in qualifying), and Junior's got good chemistry with new crew chief Steve Letarte. The two are proving they can be fast, competitive and consistent, and if Junior keeps getting himself into the top-10 and top-5, that win will come.

Hell, the way he's running this year, he could get more than one.

Nationwide is on your Side: For the second time in three races, a Nationwide Series regular has won a race. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won at Iowa a few weeks back, and Justin Allgaier took the checkered flag at Chicagoland on Saturday.

The relative lack of Cup drivers in the field helps -- only two were in the Iowa race and four suited up Saturday night -- but it's nice to see the young guys making a name for themselves and taking advantage of the opportunities given to them.

There's no reason to think this trend won't continue, either -- especially as we head into the summer months where the Nationwide Series holds most of its standalone events. There was a lot of early-season hand-wringing, a lot of people moaning about how we'd wind up with a winless champion.

But don't be so sure of that. Cup drivers in the Nationwide Series aren't going anywhere, but now the young guys are starting to hold their own. It's great to see.

Post-Charlotte Odds and Ends

2011-06-02T14:46:00.004-04:00

Looks like I have some catching up to following the two weeks of festivities in Charlotte, N.C. With the NASCAR season roughly a quarter of the way through, let's take a look at some nuggets of potential interest.

Stenhouse Redeeming Himself: When the Nationwide Series stopped at Iowa Speedway in 2010, Ricky Stenhouse Jr was struggling. Tearing up race cars seemingly every week, Stenhouse crashed three cars in Iowa before Jack Roush benched him for a few weeks.

Then he finished fourth in the July Daytona race last season.

So far this season, Stenhouse has been one of the more impressive Nationwide-only drivers -- and he backed up all that early-season speed two weekends ago when he won at Iowa, beating Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski for his first career Nationwide Series win.

Stenhouse became the first Nationwide Series regular to win a Nationwide Series race since Justin Allgaier won at Bristol back in March 2010.

Through 13 races, Stenhouse is just one point behind series leader Elliott Sadler, thanks to five top-5s and 10 top-10s in 13 starts. This is a continuation of last season's late surge, where Stenhouse racked up three top-5s and eight top-10s and finished 16th in the points.

In a season where Roush-Fenway Racing -- and Ford overall -- seems to be resurgent, Stenhouse's strong start to 2011 is refreshing, and it might just land him the series championship once we get to Homestead in November.

Raikkonen Strong in NASCAR Debut: Former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen was competitive in his NASCAR debut two weekends ago in the Camping World Truck Series race in Charlotte, finishing 15th. He then showed some promise in this past weekend's Nationwide Series race at the same track before a part failure ruined his day.

Rumor has it Raikkonen might make his Cup debut in a few weeks in Sonoma, Calif.

Raikkonen is just the latest open wheel star to make a foray into NASCAR; he was once teammates with Juan Pablo Montoya when both were driving F1 cars for McLaren, and he won the world championship in 2007. Already, Raikkonen is off to a better start than the likes of Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti, but I fear he may be moving up the ladder too quickly.

Then again, if he adapts quickly, why not? He's clearly got a world-renowned racing pedigree. But stock cars are completely different than anything he's ever driven before.

Keselowski Getting Better: Kurt Busch's tirade at Richmond last month, in which he blasted the entire Penske Racing organization, may be paying off ... just not for the 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion.

His teammate, 2010 Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski, has shown signs of improvement after a dreadful start to the season. It started with a third-place showing at Darlington (aided by late pit strategy) and a top-5 qualifying effort at Dover. Keselowski was competitive at Dover before circumstances left him to finish 15th.

Then Keselowski races his way into the Sprint All-Star Race by finishing second to David Ragan in the Sprint Showdown. Failed brakes doomed Keselowski to finish last in the All-Star race, but Keselowski responded by winning the pole for the Coca-Cola 600.

He then ran in the top 10 for most of the night, restarting fourth on the green-white-checkered before he ran into the back of Kasey Kahne when Kahne ran out of gas. So Keselowski's 19th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 is in no indication of how he ran.

While Busch still has his struggles, Keselowski seems to be on the upswing.

Junior Being Junior: There seems to be two schools of thought on Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was half a lap away from winning the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday night before running out of fuel and coating to a 7th-place finish: He's either the greatest thing ever, or he's a bum who has no business being inside a race car.

The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle.

Junior faces the scrutiny he does because of his name; he's not just an Earnhardt, he's Dale Earnhardt. Given what that name means to NASCAR fans, a lot of hopes and dreams were placed on Junior's shoulders -- without his asking -- when his legendary father passed away 10 years ago at Daytona.

Add a winless streak going on three years, and the fact that Junior has missed the Chase each of the last two seasons, and it would appear those in the "bum who shouldn't be in a race car" camp are right.

But remove Junior's name for a second; just focus on the numbers:

-Two-time Nationwide Series champion (1998, 1999)

-18 career Sprint Cup wins

-2004 Daytona 500 champion

-Won six races in 2004

-Has three top-five Cup points finishes (3rd in 2003, 5th in 2004 and 2006)

That's actually not a bad resume, if we're talking about a driver who isn't shouldered with the expectations of being an Earnhardt. Junior's 18 career wins tie him for 25th on NASCAR's all-time wins list with guys like Geoffrey Bodine, Harry Gant and the late Neil Bonnett.

Among active drivers, Junior has more career Cup wins than Kevin Harvick (17), Greg Biffle (16), Denny Hamiln (16), Ryan Newman (14), Kasey Kahne (11), Jamie McMurray (6) and Clint Bowyer (4).

Other active drivers with comparable win numbers to Junior: Carl Edwards (19), Matt Kenseth (20), Bobby Labonte, Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton (21 each) and Kurt Busch (22).

Like Junior, many of the drivers I mentioned had lengthy winless streaks of their own.

Just something to think about.

Danica to NASCAR?: Speculation is really ramping up about a possible move to NASCAR by Danica Patrick, who finished 10th in the Indy 500 this past Sunday. Reports have Patrick running a full-time Nationwide Series schedule in 2012 while making select Cup starts and eyeing a full-time move to the Cup Series (possibly with Stewart-Haas Racing) in 2013.

Her sponsor, GoDaddy.com, is said to be interested in going wherever she goes, but right now, everything is speculative.

Frankly, IndyCar needs Patrick more than NASCAR does; she's easily the open-wheel league's most visible driver (Helio Castroneves is better known for winning Dancing With the Stars and two-time champion Dario Franchitti is better known as Ashley Judd's husband). While NASCAR would love to have her, I think her departure would leave IndyCar in a world of hurt.

That said, I don't really care which series she chooses; she just needs to pick one. It can't be good for her to hop back and forth between the heavy stock car and the light, nimble IndyCar. It's so hard to establish a rhythm when switching between two cars that are so vastly different, and there's the argument to be made that, this season, her NASCAR results have been much better than her IndyCar results.

Whichever route Patrick decides to take, she needs to pick one and stick with it. If she really wants to succeed in NASCAR, she needs to fully commit to it. Running half a Nationwide Series schedule every year won't get her the stock-car experience she needs to succeed. Better open-wheel drivers than Patrick have tried NASCAR and failed, so she really needs to think long and hard about this.

Most importantly, she needs to decide.

Pausing a Moment: With the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Sprint Cup Series coming to Kansas Speedway (located in Kansas City) this weekend, and with Jamie McMurray being a native of Joplin in border state Missouri, it seems appropriate to mention how the tornado-ravaged town still needs your help.

Texas REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the relief effort.

Long Time Coming

2011-05-18T10:52:00.002-04:00

On the heels of Fox debuting a side-by-side commercial format at the end of Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Dover -- in which the commercials and the race were shown simultaneously via split-screen -- ESPN announced on Tuesday that it would debut a similar practice for this season's 10 Chase races.

"NASCAR NonStop," as ESPN called it, would be used in the second half of this season's 10 Chase races to be broadcast on both ESPN and ABC (the Saturday night race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, on Oct. 15, will be telecast on ABC). The split-screen commercial format is relatively new to NASCAR; before Sunday's experiment on Fox, the only NASCAR race to feature this was the July race at Daytona, in what TNT dubbed its "Wide Open Coverage."

This is great news; for years, NASCAR fans have clamored for this feature to make seemingly endless commercial breaks during races more bearable.

Commercial breaks under caution were never an issue -- taking a commercial break during a naturally-occurring lull in the action is a staple of sports broadcasting. But seemingly endless commercial breaks under green-flag racing irked fans, as did the networks' failure to consistently interrupt commercial breaks when something major happened.

How many times do we have lead changes during commercial breaks? How many times do we come back from commercial, only to see the caution flying for no obvious reason why? Split-screen commercials will fix such issues.

The IndyCar Series has used this format for years -- though to be honest, advertising rates for IndyCar telecasts pale in comparison to those for NASCAR races. Showing commercials in this format requires the cooperation of NASCAR, the networks and the advertisers -- and for years, advertisers balked at the idea.

But in light of Fox's experiment on Sunday, and ESPN's announcement on Tuesday, that tide might be changing. It wouldn't surprise me if, by the time the 2013 season rolls around, every Sprint Cup race features split-screen commercials. If I were being incredibly optimistic, I'd like to think all Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series races would be treated the same way.

By showing fans more of the race, while still "paying the bills," as they say, NASCAR, the networks and the advertisers can have the best of both worlds. How many people change the channel when a race goes to commercial break? I do; I check on the baseball game or see what football games are on.

If I can still see racing action during commercial breaks, I'm more likely to stick around to see the ads -- which might compel me to buy those products or take advantage of those services.

Ultimately, the sponsors' willingness to do this stems in the fans' response. Sprint, Pizza Hut and FedEx showed ads in Sunday's lone split-screen block of ads; to show our appreciation as NASCAR fans, we should do business with those companies and let them know via contact channels or social media that we like the move.

If we get enough of a groundswell of support, if advertisers see this can be a good thing for their companies, maybe we'll see more of it down the road. We've been clamoring for this for years; now, it's time for us to make good on that desire.

There's momentum for this; let's keep it going.

Kenseth a Serious Title Contender

2011-05-16T10:52:00.003-04:00

For much of his career -- even when he won the 2003 Winston Cup championship -- Matt Kenseth has been an afterthought. A quiet, unassuming driver who never draws attention to himself with his driving style, Kenseth has quietly built a solid career -- even if he came into the 2011 season with a winless streak that spanned nearly two years and seemed to have a new crew chief every other week.

But following his win at Dover International Speedway this past Sunday, when Kenseth took two tires on the final pit stop and pulled away from Mark Martin, Kenseth has two wins this season and sits sixth in points.

Even if Kenseth wasn't so high in the points, the new wild card format based on wins would likely have him in the Chase.

But is Kenseth a legitimate title contender this season? I say yes.

Kenseth has had a lot more speed in 2011 than in recent years -- much in line with the rest of Roush-Fenway Racing, and we already know Kenseth knows how to win a title. The only issue in his way is consistency; after winning at Texas earlier this season, Kenseth had finishes of 36th, 21st and 25th.

A stretch like that during the Chase won't win you a title. Still, given how well Kenseth has run so far this season, a little luck could land the No. 17 car in the same class as the No. 48, No. 99, No. 29 and No. 18 come the fall.

Air Pockets

When Joey Logano smacked the outside wall and triggered a massive wreck late in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Dover -- a wreck in which Clint Bowyer went on his side and there were legitimate fears he would climb over the wall separating the track from pit road -- there was almost a sense of deja vu.

Carl Edwards was under Logano as the two came out of Turn 4 to take the white flag, battling for the lead. Initial camera angles made it appear that Edwards got into Logano, sending the No. 20 car into the outside wall, before Logano came down and all hell broke loose.

My first thought? "There goes Carl, wrecking someone else for the win ..."

But further replays showed the two cars never made contact. Edwards broke loose under Logano, but corrected it as his car drifted up the banking. Logano then broke loose before hitting the fence.

So Edwards didn't wreck Logano -- but he did disturb the air enough to get Logano loose. Did he do that on purpose? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't -- and if he did, playing with the air like that coming to the white flag while battling for the win is fair game.

And even if Edwards did disturb the air against Logano's left rear like that, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to trigger a huge, multi-car accident that left sheet metal torn all to hell and sent a crew member to the hospital after a spring hit him in the leg.

Still, Edwards isn't completely innocent in all this. He may not have meant for what happened to happen, but something tells me Logano doesn't wreck without another car underneath him.

Paying the Bills

Everyone got all excited when they saw Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were both entered in Friday's Camping World Truck Series race at Dover. But there's one simple reason why they were never going to go at each other in that race, and it has nothing to do with the punishments NASCAR handed down after Darlington.

See, Harvick and Busch are owners in the Truck Series; did you really think they were going to tear up their own equipment to settle a grudge? That money would've come out of their own pockets --- unlike in the Cup Series, where any of that nonsense would've been paid by Joe Gibbs or Richard Childress.

Harvick and Busch are many things, but they're not stupid -- especially Busch, who has had a hard time keeping his newfound truck team financially viable in its first year-plus of existence.

Trust me when I say the next round of Harvick v. Busch is coming ... but you're kidding yourself if you thought it would be in Friday's Truck race, where both drivers were also signing the checks for the vehicles they were driving.

One More Thing ...

Shoutout to Cole Whitt, the 19-year-old who's quickly making a name for himself in the Camping World Truck Series. Whitt finished a career-best second to Busch in Friday's race at Dover, leading until a series of late cautions put him against Busch on the ensuing restarts.

Whitt sits third in the standings, just seven points behind leader Matt Crafton. The youngster already has a pole (at Darlington, no less) and four top-10 finishes so far this season.

If Friday was any indication, that first win is just above the horizon.

On Regan Smith:

2011-05-12T10:23:00.000-04:00

Were it not for Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith would be the story of the week following his stunning upset win in the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Saturday.

Smith stayed out under caution in the closing laps and held off a furious charge from Carl Edwards in a green-white-checkered finish to claim his first official NASCAR victory.

I say official because we all remember what happened at Talladega in 2008, when Smith was a rookie driving for the now-defunct Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Coming to the checkered flag, Smith was running second to Tony Stewart. In the tri-oval, Smith went high to pass Stewart. When Stewart blocked, Smith cut back to the bottom -- and as Stewart tried to block again, Smith when below the yellow line and beat Stewart to the finish line.

NASCAR ruled Stewart the winner.

Setting aside the legitimacy of the yellow line rule (that's a topic for another post), NASCAR was right to rule as it did. Smith went below the yellow line to improve his position, which is against the rule. It's true that was Smith's only option aside from wrecking Stewart (see Keselowski & Edwards, Talladega 2009), but the rule is the rule.

Still, it was telling that FOX's Mike Joy chose to announce Smith's winning on Saturday by declaring, "This checkered flag he gets to keep!" I can't think of anyone in the NASCAR world who isn't happy for Smith's upset win -- both for Smith himself, and for his underfunded Furniture Row team based out of Denver, Colo.

Go ahead, say Smith stole the win. Try to de-legitimize his victory by calling it a strategy win. Racing is all about who gets to the checkered flag first, and on Saturday night, Smith did that. He won the race, and nothing will ever take that away from him. He'll always have that trophy, and his name will always be in the record book as a Southern 500 winner.

Now isn't the time to debate whether or not Smith can mount a run at the Chase (he's 27th in points, but could get a Chase wild card if he somehow vaulted into the Top 20), or if he'll even win another race. Now is the time to enjoy the moment, relish in yet another amazing storyline in an early NASCAR season that's been rife with them.

This isn't just about letting Smith enjoy his moment; this is about NASCAR, as a whole, enjoying the moment. Stories like this are rare in the era of multi-car conglomerates; if you don't drive for Hendrick, Childress, Roush or Gibbs, your chances of winning or running competitively every week are slim. What makes Saturday night so special was that, for once, the little guy beat the big boys.

Smith has a lot of talent; when he won Rookie of the Year honors in 2008, he went the entire season without recording a DNF. For the most part, Smith doesn't tear up his equipment, and he often runs his No. 78 Chevrolet past its capabilities. Smith's the kind of guy you would love to see in a Hendrick or a Roush car, just so you could see what he can truly accomplish.

Sadly, that might never happen. But Saturday night did happen, and for that, both Smith and NASCAR should be dancing in the streets.

Boys, Have At It -- But Not Too Much

2011-05-11T09:20:00.002-04:00

Under normal circumstances, the NASCAR world would still be celebrating Regan Smith's upset win in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway this past Saturday (yes, you read that right; Regan Smith won the Southern 500).

But thanks to Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, circumstances became anything but normal.

A quick recap: in the closing laps of Saturday's race, Busch and Harvick were beating and banging on each other -- a situation that wound up costing Clint Bowyer a good finish, as he was on the bottom of the other two in a three-wide mess coming off Turn 4. Busch hit Harvick, who hit Bowyer, who spun into the inside wall.

As the caution waved, Busch hooked Harvick's right rear quarter panel, sending the No. 29 spinning into the outside wall. Cue the green-white-checkered finish. Cue Smith beating Carl Edwards to the checkered flag. Cue post-race antics by Busch and Harvick.

After a brief game of cat-and-mouse (where Harvick attempted to stop in front of Busch to express his displeasure, only to have Busch back away), Harvick pulled into the pits with Busch behind him. Harvick got out of his car and approached Busch's window to throw a punch ... at which point, Busch punched the gas and sent Harvick's driverless car head-first into the inside pits wall.

No one was hurt, but Harvick's crew was ... shall we say, less than pleased.

Both drivers were called to the NASCAR hauler, and Harvick insinuated afterward that whatever feud he had with Busch wasn't over. On Tuesday, NASCAR handed out $25,000 fines to both drivers, as well as four weeks of probation.

No points, no suspensions. Chump change fines and probation -- and if you've been following NASCAR for any length of time, you realize just how meaningless probation is.

I get that, in a sense, NASCAR painted itself in a corner prior to last season with its "Boys, have at it" edict. How can the sanctioning body tell the drivers to police themselves, then step in with a harsh penalty when the drivers do just that? But in this instance, because of Busch's actions on pit road -- which could've easily hurt someone -- I think NASCAR needed to act.

NASCAR admitted the fines and probation were for what happened on pit road after the race and not for what happened on the race track. But if we're going to use that logic, then Busch deserves a harsher penalty; while Harvick merely threw a punch -- designed to hurt only Busch -- Busch punting Harvick's car out of the way while trying to flee could've caused even more damage.

What if Harvick's unmanned car ran over a NASCAR official or a wandering pit crew member? It's one thing to take your frustrations out on each other on the track, but on pit road when there are people wandering around?

Precedent doesn't really matter -- partly because NASCAR has never let precedent dictate its decisions (unless we're talking about cheating and failing inspection). But NASCAR stuck to its guns last season when Edwards and Brad Keselowski were in the middle of their feud, in large part because NASCAR tied its own hands with "Boys, have at it."

However, there's "Boys, have at it," and there's what Edwards did last year at Atlanta and Gateway. There's "Boys, have at it," and there's what Busch did on Saturday.

I think NASCAR can actually have it both ways; it can still let the drivers police themselves, and it can still drop the hammer when a driver steps over the line. It begs the question what the line actually is, but I think most sensible people can agree Busch crossed it on pit road Saturday night, just as Edwards crossed that line twice last year.

I have no issue with Harvick being punished; like last year, when NASCAR placed Keselowski on probation, it's likely a preventative measure designed to keep Harvick from retaliating any time soon. I don't think Harvick would let something like that stop him, but I think that's the reasoning here.

But why isn't Busch's penalty more severe? He was in the wrong far more than Harvick was, and his actions were potentially dangerous for people not even involved in the fracas. Harvick's actions would've only hurt Busch; Busch's actions could've taken out an innocent bystander or two.

Something tells me we haven't seen the last of Harvick vs. Busch this season -- in part because NASCAR decided not to step in and truly take control of the situation.

A Reality Check for the Nationwide Series

2011-04-26T13:54:00.002-04:00

There's been a lot of chatter in recent years about the Nationwide Series lacking an identity of its own, what with Cup drivers coming down into the series to dominate races, steal prize money and win championships at the expense of the up-and-comers.

A full-time Cup Series driver has won the last five Nationwide Series titles: Kevin Harvick in 2006; Carl Edwards in 2007; Clint Bowyer in 2008; Kyle Busch in 2009; and Brad Keselowski in 2010. Martin Truex Jr., who went back-to-back in 2004 and 2005, is the last driver to win a Nationwide Series title while not competing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series.

The racket about this phenomenon got so loud that NASCAR tried to do something about it; in the offseason, NASCAR told drivers to choose one national touring series in which to collect championship points. Drivers could still run as many races in the other series as they wanted, but they could only collect points in one series.

The result? Justin Allgaier is the Nationwide Series points leader, but he's yet to win a race in 2011. In fact, full-time Cup drivers have won all eight races so far this season; Busch and Edwards have six wins between them.

It's entirely possible the Nationwide Series crowns a winless champion this season.

Some have called for limiting the number of races a full-time Cup driver can run in the Nationwide Series, if not outright ban them; I've even advocated this in the past. Experts bemoan the lack of identity in the Nationwide Series, despite a new-generation race car that has everyone -- drivers, officials, fans, media -- excited. Tracks and sponsors love the money and exposure Cup drivers offer -- which is why an outright ban will never fly.

But let's be realistic. Cup drivers have always been a part of the series' identity, even back to its founding in 1982. Do you know who won the first-ever Nationwide Series race? The late Dale Earnhardt -- who was already three years into his Cup career.

Can you tell me who the top two drivers are on the Nationwide Series' all-time wins list? Mark Martin and Kyle Busch -- and the bulk of their wins in the Nationwide Series have come in the middle of their respective Cup careers.

The problem isn't that Cup drivers are running Nationwide Series races -- they've always done that, and they always will. The problem is Cup drivers running the full Nationwide Series schedule, a phenomenon that didn't crop up until 2006.

Harvick actually became the first driver to run both the Nationwide and Cup Series schedules full-time in 2001, even though he did not run in the Daytona 500. Circumstances dictated this, since Harvick wasn't originally scheduled to go Cup racing in 2001 until Earnhardt's death. But once Harvick pulled the double again in 2006, winning his second Nationwide Series title, it opened the flood gates for other drivers.

Edwards and Keselowski are slated to run the full Nationwide Series schedule this season, despite not being eligible for the championship. Whether that's because of driver preference or sponsor commitments, that's a problem.

The Nationwide Series has always been a feeder series for the up-and-coming drivers to test their mettle against moonlighting Cup drivers; it's as true today as it was in 1982. The Nationwide Series has never been exclusively about the young guys. NASCAR has always tried to strike a delicate balance between exposure and self-identity in the series, and that balancing act has been a failure in the last five years.

Don't ban Cup drivers outright -- I don't think the series would survive in the long run. But placing a limit on how many races a full-time Cup Series driver can run in the Nationwide Series -- say, 17 races (roughly half the schedule) -- could be the way to restore that balance.

Cup drivers aren't going away, and nor should they. But NASCAR has a way to restore competitive balance to the Nationwide Series and give that series a champion that won't leave people feeling empty at the end of the year.

But they refuse to do it.

Double Yellow Line Rule: Safe or Trouble?

2011-04-20T13:35:00.003-04:00

When NASCAR visits Daytona and Talladega -- the only two tracks on the circuit which require the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates -- it institutes what we refer to as the "yellow line rule." Basically, drivers cannot dip below the double-yellow line running along the bottom of the track in an effort to improve their position.

Think of it as out-of-bounds.

NASCAR implemented the rule several years ago at the plate tracks in the interest of safety, arguing that it didn't need cars going all the way into the grass trying to make passes before blending back into the traffic. On the surface, it sounds great, but in recent years events have called the yellow line rule into question.

Take Sunday's race at Talladega, for instance, where some accused winner Jimmie Johnson of dipping below the yellow line to make the winning pass on Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer. I've already made my opinion known -- but it does bring to mind other controversial instances.

There's the 2011 Budweiser Shootout, in which Denny Hamlin beat Kurt Busch to the line, but NASCAR gave Busch the victory after declaring Hamlin made the pass below the yellow line.

In the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, Brad Keselowski won after making contact with Carl Edwards in the tri-oval coming to the checkered flag, sending Edwards' car airborne and into the catchfence. Edwards went low to block Keselowski, and Keselowski held his line -- in large part because he couldn't go below the yellow line.

At Daytona in July 2009, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch came off the final turn fighting for the win. Busch was in the lead, and he went low to block Stewart. When Stewart cut down high -- knowing he couldn't go any lower because of the line -- to try another pass, Busch followed in an attempt to block -- and got hooked right into the outside wall to trigger a massive wreck.

Perhaps the most controversial of all, though, came in Talladega in Ocotber 2008. Regan Smith, then a rookie driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., passed Tony Stewart coming off the tri-oval on the last lap and beat Stewart to the finish line. But Smith went below the yellow line -- believing all bets were off on the last lap -- and NASCAR declared Stewart the winner.

In the 2009 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. triggered the Big One on the backstretch; he got a run on Brian Vickers coming off Turn 2, and when he ducked low to make the pass, Vickers blocked. Junior went below the yellow line and tried to merge back onto the track without passing Vickers. He clipped the left rear of Vickers' car, triggering a multi-car incident.

Given the above evidence -- and plenty more, if I felt like looking for it -- one could argue the yellow line has caused more problems than it solved. I believe this rule was directly responsible for Edwards' crash at Talladega and Busch's at Daytona -- if Keselowski could've gone lower to avoid Edwards without lifting, he likely would've -- while the other two resulted in controversial finishes that leave few people satisfied.

Smith thought the rule didn't apply on the last lap; so did one of the announcers in the ESPN booth. You could call that simple ignorance, or you could chalk it up to poor communication on NASCAR's part.

Does the yellow line rule save wrecks? Possibly, though now that we've lost the big packs in favor of two-car tandem drafting, that's debatable. But the rule has caused as many wrecks as it's saved -- and frankly, in the days of 35-car drafts, dozens of cars were going to get wadded up at some point anyway.

Daytona and Talladega are treacherous beasts, regardless of the rules package in place. The yellow line rule is an example of a rule designed with good intentions that wound up with unintended consequences. It's time NASCAR took a good, hard look at doing away with the rule once and for all, because it's largely become nothing more than a headache.

Restrictor-plate racing is stressful enough; why add to it with dumb rules?

Scott Worthy of Hall Consideration

2011-04-20T10:33:00.008-04:00

The latest round of 25 names eligible for the 2012 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame were announced on Tuesday, including five brand-new names: H. Clay Earles, Bobby Isaac, Cotton Owens, Les Richter and Leonard Wood.

But one name remains conspicuously absent: Wendell Scott.

I'll admit, if you only look at the numbers, Scott's name should be nowhere near this list. He only won one race in his entire Cup career -- Dec. 1, 1963 in Jacksonville, Fla. -- and race promoters initially named second-place Buck Baker the win (even though Scott won by two laps). It wasn't until the celebration ended that NASCAR named Scott the winner -- giving him his check, but not the trophy.

Why would something like that happen? Because Scott was black. Life in America was tough for African-Americans in 1963 as it was, but imagine how hard it had to be for an African-American trying to break through in NASCAR, a sport with deep Southern roots.

The track denied Scott his win because officials didn't want him in Victory Lane, kissing the white trophy girl. The speedway never gave Scott a trophy; it wasn't until this year that the track offered a trophy to his family.

The case for Scott's candidacy goes beyond his on-track performance. He's been called the Jackie Robinson of NASCAR, which isn't entirely accurate. But given that Scott was the first African-American to run in NASCAR's premiere series -- and the only African-American to ever win a NASCAR national touring series race -- gives him a case based on pioneer status.

It's not like NASCAR has ignored Scott; on the night of the 2011 Daytona 500, ESPN, in association with NASCAR Media Group, produced an outstanding documentary telling his story, and NASCAR honored Scott in Las Vegas earlier this season with car decals celebrating the 50th anniversary of Scott's first career start.

But was it enough?

Some affiliated with NASCAR on the media end have argued for Scott's addition to the 25 names that will be voted on; five new members will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January.

Jim Utter, of The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com, has been the most adamant, while Dustin Long of Landmark Newspapers and SI.com also posed the question. And while I agree that Scott at least deserves consideration, there's one thing holding him back.

Whereas Robinson kicked the door down for African-American baseball players, effectively shifting the game's demographic forever, Scott didn't do the same for NASCAR. There has been a decided lack of high-profile African-American drivers in NASCAR since Scott's time behind the wheel.

Willy T. Ribbs made a few NASCAR starts, but he never found his footing. Bill Lester had a solid couple years in what was the Craftsman Truck Series, but he only made a handful of Cup starts. Marc Davis never found his footing in the Nationwide Series, and NASCAR's Drive For Diversity program has had, to be polite, mixed results.

To be perfectly frank, women and international drivers have had a larger presence in NASCAR than African-Americans.

That's not to say NASCAR doesn't have its share of African-American fans or African-American crew members, because it does. But stardom and prominence in NASCAR will always be reserved for the drivers (and the occasional crew chief), and the reality is ... since Scott, there have been no prominent African-American drivers in NASCAR.

Sadly, that puts a little bit of a dent in Scott's status as a pioneer.

There's a reason some within the sport are hopeful that Darrell Wallace Jr. can become a star in the sport. The young man is making a name for himself in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series; if he can get that big break into one of NASCAR's top national series in the next year or so, I think the sport -- and Scott -- would benefit.

Robinson is called a pioneer because he forever changed the face of baseball; Scott, for all his bravery and success, has not done that. Through no fault of his own, NASCAR is lacking as much diversity among its drivers today as it did back in the 1960s.

I think Scott should've been among the 25 names announced Tuesday, because I think he deserves the conversation. We need to talk about his career and what he meant to the sport. Maybe his legacy is still being written; maybe it won't have the immediacy that Robinson did for baseball.

I don't think he's a Hall of Famer yet, but what's the harm in talking about it?

Johnson's Thrilling Win on the Up-and-Up

2011-04-18T11:33:00.002-04:00

Shortly after Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer to the line by .002 seconds to win the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday -- tying the closest finish in NASCAR history since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993 -- some intimated that Johnson shouldn't have won because he dipped below the double yellow-line in the tri-0val.

Was it a legitimate concern, or was it merely sour grapes from those not thrilled with who won?

Watch the video below of the finish -- in which four pairs of cars came to the finish line side-by-side-by-side-by-side -- to judge for yourself.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&amp;brand=foxsports&amp;from=sp&amp;vid=022be242-2d58-40d3-877d-a839a77d9ff7&amp;src=FLCP:sharebar:embed" target="_new" title="Wild finish at Talladega">Video: Wild finish at Talladega</a>

It seems, to some degree, that the yellow line rule has caused more trouble than it's saved -- I'll get into that a little more in a post later today -- but in examining the Johnson case, there really is no question.

Yes, at one point, Johnson's left-side tires -- as well as those of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who pushed Johnson to victory -- touched the yellow line. But that was not in the act of passing; as the 48 and 88 got their run coming off Turn 4, the tandem cut low, beneath Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Martin dropped low in an attempt to block Johnson and Earnhardt, and the 48 and 88 dipped lower to avoid contact.

In fact, a replay from Junior's in-car camera shows that even with the evasive maneuver, the 5 and the 88 still made contact. Once Martin realized he couldn't block Johnson and Earnhardt, he got back in line and tried to latch back onto Gordon's rear bumper.

He failed, though, finishing eighth.

Once Martin got back in line, Johnson and Earnhardt -- who still had not passed the 24 and 5 -- came back up above the yellow line. Then Johnson and Earnhardt made the pass.

By the letter of the law -- where you cannot go below the yellow line and improve your position -- Johnson's move was legal. This was nothing like the situation with Regan Smith in 2008, where he clearly went below the line and passed Tony Stewart for what he thought was his first career victory.

Johnson and Earnhardt dipped onto the yellow line to avoid contact, then when the contact was averted, the duo got back off the yellow line and proceeded to make the winning pass.

The video clearly speaks for itself; in reality, I wonder if those bitching about Johnson breaking a NASCAR rule and getting away with it are simply unhappy about who won the race and have to resort to accusations of cheating to sate their anger.

If that's the case, it's really pathetic. Grow up, people. Johnson was bound to win a race at some point this season. Get over it and enjoy the fact that we had one hell of a finish at a track that's known for amazing finishes.

I don't like who won anymore than the rest of you, but he won fair and square.

Oh So Close For Junior

2011-04-05T13:36:00.003-04:00

Kevin Harvick won the Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, but the story isn't so much that he's won back-to-back races, leading a grand total of seven laps in the process. No, it's more about who Harvick beat for the win.

Namely, one Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Harvick passed Junior with four laps to go on Sunday, robbing Junior and the majority of the 65,000 fans in attendance of that elusive victory. Junior has now gone 99 races without a win, dating all the way back to 2008, when he won at Michigan on a fuel mileage gamble.

Since the start of the 2005 season, Junior has three wins, two of which came on fuel mileage.

But things are definitely heading in the right direction for Junior and the rest of the No. 88 team. He's eighth in points heading into Saturday night's race at Texas, and Junior has three top-10s through six races -- as well as an 11th at Bristol and a 12th at Fontana. Were it not for a late wreck in the Daytona 500, he might be even higher up in the standings.

But even by his own admission, Junior and the No. 88 aren't in race-winning form yet. Hard to believe, considering he was four laps away from victory on Sunday, but if nothing else, his runner-up effort -- and the move he put on Kyle Busch to take the lead with 21 laps to go -- show that things are headed in the right direction.

A lot of it is likely due to Steve Letarte. Not that Letarte is any better a crew chief than Lance McGrew or Tony Eury Jr. -- both of whom are proven in NASCAR circles -- but Letarte and Junior obviously have chemistry. Junior's giving Letarte good information and Letarte is making sure Junior doesn't get down on himself when things go wrong.

I'm not saying Junior will be a title contender this season -- I'm not even ready to proclaim him a Chase driver yet -- but the team and the driver are trending up for the first time since his hot start to the 2008 season. He could win a race or two this season (maybe this weekend at Texas, or next weekend at Talladega), but that's as far as I'm willing to go.

Junior gave fans a glimpse of what once was and what once again could be on Sunday in Martinsville. Were it not for Harvick playing the role of spoiler (or bad guy, if you want to use his words), that first win might've come sooner than anyone imagined.

But he's not quite there yet. Steps are being made, though, and I think it's only a matter of time.

Initial Thoughts: NASCAR The Game 2011

2011-03-30T14:26:00.002-04:00

For the first time in roughly three years, we have a new NASCAR videogame. Activison released NASCAR The Game 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and Nintendo Wii on Tuesday -- marking the first since NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona that anyone other than Electronic Arts released a serious NASCAR game for consoles.

I'll have more in-depth thoughts in the coming days and weeks, as I spend more time with the game, but here are some initial thoughts as I work my way through the game.

The Good
-Tremendous sense of speed. I've played my share of NASCAR games (and really, racing games in general) where there's no sensation of speed. The screen might say you're going 195, but it doesn't look like it. NASCAR The Game 2011 doesn't have that problem.

-Visual style. Obviously, getting each of the 23 Sprint Cup tracks right is paramount -- and boy, does NASCAR The Game 2011 get this one right -- but the entire game simply *feels* like NASCAR. The menu screens have a flair all their own, which adds to the overall feel of the game.

-Control. One of my biggest issues with the Xbox 360 version of NASCAR 09 was how clumsy the game felt. Driving a stock car in that game felt more like a chore than anything else, certainly not as smooth as some of the older NASCAR titles I still play today. NASCAR The Game 2011 doesn't have that problem -- in some ways, it handles a lot like Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit.

-Authenticity. Though the cars and drivers are based off 2010 -- Kurt Busch is still in the No. 2 car, and those damn splitter braces are back -- this game still manages to get virtually everything right. If a track has progressive banking (Bristol, Homestead), you feel it -- and my inner geek loves seeing the new videoboard as I come off Turn 4 at Martinsville.

The Bad
-One series only. You can only run in the Sprint Cup Series in NASCAR The Game 2011; sure, drivers from other series make cameos (Todd Bodine, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Trevor Bayne), but if you're hoping to run those new Mustangs or Challengers, you're going to be disappointed. Though I soured on EA's later titles, I appreciated that the series offered all three series -- and even Modifieds, as far back as NASCAR Chase For the Cup 2005.

-Blah Career mode. Somewhat in line with the above complaint, NASCAR The Game 2011 features a bare-bones, sort of pointless Career mode. You pretty much run the 2010 Cup schedule and fight for the championship. Hopefully, future games in this series will add the other racing series and build a more robust career.

-Cautions, anyone? I know I have cautions turned on, and yet ... through roughly 20 races or so, I've yet to see one. Which, if you just happen to run a race in which nothing happens to bring out the caution, is fine ... but I was in the middle of a 15-car pileup on the backstretch at Daytona -- and the caution never waved. Weirder still, the caution lights along the catchfences are always on.

-Incomplete? In some regards, NASCAR The Game 2011 feels incomplete -- which is a shame, considering this game's release was delayed a month. Why push back the release date and not finish the job?

Still, given these relatively minor (but noticeable to NASCAR fans) shortcomings, NASCAR The Game 2011 is proving to be a pretty good racing game. I'll post a more in-depth review once I've dug even deeper into the game, but so far I'm having fun with it.

Preliminary score: 7 out of 10

Has Auto Club Speedway Found Its Niche?

2011-03-28T11:13:00.003-04:00

The Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. has had an interesting 15 years.

The 2-mile oval originally built by Roger Penske was designed to give NASCAR a presence in the Los Angeles market -- the second-largest media market in the country -- and the annual trip was met with a mix of anticipation and dread; sure, NASCAR in Hollywood was a spectacle, but the racing on the wide, relatively flat surface wasn't the greatest in the world.

Still, no one begrudged the fact that NASCAR wanted a presence in southern California -- that is, until NASCAR gave the track a second Cup date. As if that weren't blasphemous enough, NASCAR took the date away from Darlington.

Not just any Darlington date, either; NASCAR took away the Southern 500 -- a NASCAR tradition revered almost as much as The Masters in golf -- and gave it to Fontana.

The outrage, while justified, was predictable.

NASCAR's had to change over the years, and in many ways, it's done so for the better. The sport is far safer than it was even five years ago -- and despite what naysayers may tell you, the competition in the sport has never been greater. But a lot of changes have rankled the traditional fan -- none more so than leaving Darlington in favor of a market that, in recent years, has shown little interest in stock car racing.

Attendance at Auto Club Speedway in recent years has been about as dull as the racing. Empty seats have been easily visible on television; while it's true that empty seats have been a problem almost everywhere in recent years, Fontana had attendance issues long before the economy tanked.

Maybe Fontana didn't deserve that second Cup date after all.

So NASCAR announced that, starting this season, it would take Fontana's second Cup date and give it to Kansas Speedway. On top of that, the track shaved 100 miles off the race distance -- it actually did this with the fall race last season, and the results were tremendous.

Now that the pavement has worn over the last 15 years, Fontana has the potential to produce great side-by-side racing. The groove has widened over the years, and the speeds they run at Auto Club Speedway are some of the fastest on the circuit.

Restarts are frantic at Fontana, and it's not uncommon to see cars going four- or even five-wide along the back straightaway. Fontana's not a track that will crumple a lot of sheet metal -- and if most fans are honest with themselves, that's what they want to see -- but anyone pining for close, side-by-side racing, Fontana has the potential to fit that bill.

Especially now that the race is 100 miles shorter.

Sunday's Auto Club 400 -- which Kevin Harvick won with a thrilling pass of Jimmie Johnson coming off Turn 4 on the last lap -- clocked in at two hours and 39 minutes (by far the shortest Cup race in recent years). The lack of cautions certainly helped, but so did taking away those last 100 miles.

Shortening races gives the drivers more urgency; there isn't enough time to simply ride around and wait for the adjustments to be made. That's why the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series sometimes put on a better show; with shorter races, drivers have to get up on the wheel and get what they can when they can.

There's no waiting.

I've long been a critic of Auto Club Speedway; for a time, it was the only track on the circuit I could've done without. But the last two races have been competitive and compelling. Maybe the track has found its place in the sport after 15 years; a one-time stop every year where we're treated to 400 miles of high speeds, side-by-side racing and four- and five-wide competition.

As much as the traditionalists would love NASCAR to ditch places like Fontana and return to Darlington and Rockingham and North Wilkesboro, it's not happening. Such is the price of growth and change. But Fontana seems to have finally found itself, and that can only mean good news for NASCAR and its fans.

Besides, we've got Martinsville this week. What's not to like there?

Could Jeff Gordon Be Back?

2011-03-02T10:33:00.002-05:00

There's a reason Dale Earnhardt once called Jeff Gordon "Wonder Boy."

A lot of it had to do with Gordon's relative youth when he first broke into the Cup Series back in 1993 -- though he was still older than Trevor Bayne, this year's Daytona 500 champion. But more than anything, Gordon was damn good. So good, he beat Earnhardt for the 1995 series title. Then he finished second to teammate Terry Labonte in 1996.

Then he dominated in 1997 and 1998, winning back-to-back Cup titles and tying a modern-era NASCAR record with 13 wins in 1998. That's three championships and a second-place finish in four years.

Not quite five in a row, but still damn impressive.

Gordon later won the title in 2001, and along the way, Gordon won three Daytona 500s and four Brickyard 400s. Following Sunday's convincing win at Phoenix, Gordon has 83 career wins, tied for fifth with Cale Yarborough on the all-time list. He's one away from tying Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for third all-time.

It's conceivable that Gordon could surpass those legends this season. While he won't touch David Pearson (second all-time with 105 wins), and no one will ever touch Richard Petty's 200 wins, ending your career third in wins is no small feat.

But the more immediate question should be: is Gordon a title contender?

I said before the season started that he was, and Sunday's performance only reinforces that belief. The offseason shuffle at Hendrick Motorsports that paired Gordon with crew chief Alan Gustafson -- widely considered the smartest Cup crew chief not named Chad Knaus -- had a lot of experts expecting big things from the No. 24 this season, and I think moving Gordon's shop out of the same building as Jimmie Johnson helps, too.

Sunday's win snapped a 66-race winless streak for Gordon, but it wasn't like he was uncompetitive during that stretch. He finished second eight times during that streak, and there were at least four races last year that Gordon should've won. Though he went winless last season, Gordon still ran well enough to make the Chase.

I wouldn't call Gordon the favorite -- that title goes to Johnson until someone beats him -- but the greatest driver of the last 20 years is once again a factor, and it wouldn't surprise me if come Homestead, we're looking at another five-time champion.

Is that wishful thinking? Maybe. But after Sunday, there might be something to it.

Some Perspective, Please

2011-02-23T10:15:00.002-05:00

Don't get me wrong; 20-year-old Trevor Bayne, driving the famed No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers, winning the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 is probably one of the best openings to the 2011 season that NASCAR could ask for -- the only better beginning would've been Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning, but you take what you can get.

But let's exercise some perspective here.

Some have intimated in the days following the Daytona 500 that Bayne will be the sport's next big thing, the rising star who'll sweep in and save NASCAR from all its ills. That's a lot of pressure for a kid who's only made two Sprint Cup starts and is fighting for a Nationwide Series title in an unsponsored Roush Fenway ride.

Don't get me wrong; Bayne's got a lot of talent. He showed it in the Nationwide Series last season, and he was obviously good enough for Jeff Gordon -- Jeff Gordon! -- to work with him during Speedweeks.

But to proclaim him the sport's savior? To call him the Justin Bieber of NASCAR? That's a stretch.

NASCAR's history is littered with high-profile up-and-comers who showed a lot of promise but never lived up to it. For every Jeff Gordon, there are three Casey Atwoods. Even though Joey Logano's shown promise and improvement heading into his third full Cup season, who really believes he wouldn't have benefited from two full Nationwide seasons before moving up?

Granted, the circumstances in Logano's case were different; Tony Stewart leaving a year before the end of his contract sort of forced Joe Gibbs' hand. By and large, though, young drivers aren't allowed to develop the way they used to; even back in the late 1990s, drivers could spend a few years in the Nationwide Series (then the Busch Series) to hone their skills before moving to the Cup Series.

These days? Drivers like Logano and the Busch brothers are practically thrust into Cup the moment they're eligible. Kurt Busch jumped straight from the Camping World Truck Series to the Cup Series, and the bulk of Kyle Busch's Nationwide and Truck Series wins came after he'd already established himself as a Cup star.

Brad Keselowski has been the exception in recent years; after getting his big break in the Nationwide Series in 2007, Keselowski ran in the Nationwide Series full-time in 2008 and 2009, while adding in the occasional Cup start for experience (and, oh by the way, a win at Talladega in 2009).

He didn't start running in the Cup Series full-time until last season.

It's easy to jump on the Trevor Bayne bandwagon after his win in the Great American Race; it's a wonderful story, and Bayne has a world of potential. There's a reason the now-defunct Dale Earnhardt Inc. had him signed to a development deal before the economy cratered, and Michael Waltrip Racing touted him as the next big thing before funding ran dry last year.

But don't let the excitement of the moment cloud the reality that he just turned 20, that he only has two Cup starts and one full Nationwide season under his belt. Bayne is competing for the Nationwide Series title this season, which I feel is the right move. I think he has a legitimate shot at the title, and the experience he gains this year, running Nationwide along with 17 or 18 Cup races, will serve him well.

If he lands a full-time Cup ride next season (in Jack Roush's No. 6, perhaps?), then that would be great. But let's not put Bayne on a pedestal so soon; he could be the next Jeff Gordon, or he could be the next Derrick Cope.

Or, more likely, he'll fall somewhere in between. But let's find out where that is before we anoint the kid, okay?

2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Preview

2011-02-18T10:32:00.002-05:00

In honor of the Chase, 12 questions as we gear up for Sunday's running of the Daytona 500 ...

1) What's with the new nose?
The nose of the Sprint Cup car has a different look this season; the front splitter has been filled in and the braces have been removed. The braces, on top of being an eyesore, proved problematic when the front of the car was damaged. The new nose is much stronger, as we've seen whenever cars spun through the grass, and it looks much better. This is part of the continuing evolution of the car -- the wing was replaced by the rear spoiler last season -- and it's come about, in part, because of the new-generation Nationwide Series car. NASCAR wants to bring brand identity back to the Cup Series by 2013, and the new nose is part of that process.

2) Okay, lots of new rides out there. Who's who now?
Part of the new NASCAR season is figuring out where certain drivers or sponsors have gone, and 2011 is no different. Kevin Harvick is still driving the No. 29 for Richard Childress Racing, but he's now sponsored by Budweiser (and honestly, the black paint scheme unnerves me); likewise for Jeff Gordon, who's No. 24 Impala is now sponsored, in large part, by the AARP's Drive To End Hunger program. Kurt Busch is now driving the No. 22 Penske Dodge, sponsored by Shell/Pennzoil, meaning Brad Keselowski, the 2010 Nationwide Series champion, is now driving the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. Marcos Ambrose is now driving the No. 9 Stanley Tools/DeWalt Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports, while Bobby Labonte is now piloting the No. 47 Toyota. Need a flow chart?

3) What about the crew chief swap at Hendrick Motorsports?
To put it simply: Alan Gustafson is now Jeff Gordon's crew chief. Steve Letarte now calls the shots for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Lance McGrew has been paired with Mark Martin. Junior and Jimmie Johnson now share a race shop, with Gordon and Martin sharing the other. Though Johnson won his fifth straight title last season, he wasn't as strong as he'd been in years past, and none of the other Hendrick teams found Victory Lane (and Martin and Junior both missed the Chase). Rick Hendrick's never been afraid to mix things up, and time will tell whether these changes work. A lot of people expect Gustafson, believed to be the smartest crew chief not named Chad Knaus, to be great for Gordon, while some feel Letarte's upbeat attitude will help Junior. I'm reserving judgement.

4) If Junior still struggles, will we have to face the fact that he's the issue?
Yes; I love Junior. I know he has talent, because you don't win 18 Cup races and two Nationwide Series championships if you don't. But because of his name, that's not good enough. It's a fact that Junior's had a rough go of it on the track since 2005, and he floundered at Hendrick, both with Tony Eury Jr. and McGrew. If his partnership with Letarte -- who was vilified toward the end of his tenure with Gordon -- doesn't work, we may have to just face the reality that Junior's the issue. Maybe the pairing with Hendrick is a bad fit, maybe Junior's not the driver he used to be. But if this season's a bust, I don't think we can blame the crew chief anymore.

5) So, new points system, huh?
Apparently; NASCAR re-vamped the points system for its three national touring series starting this season. The winner will receive 43 points, while second place will get 42 points, decreasing in one-point increments all the way down to one point for 43rd. Winners will receive a three-point bonus, and drivers will get one bonus point for leading a lap and one bonus point for leading the most laps. If a driver wins the race and leads the most laps, he gets 48 points (oh, the conspiracy theories that invites ...). Not so sure NASCAR needed to do this, but it is simpler, and it will place an emphasis on winning (read my in-depth analysis here). The 11th and 12th Chase spots will also to drivers outside the Top 10 in points, but in the Top 20, with the most wins.

6) So, it's the Jamie McMurray Rule?
More or less. Or the Kyle Busch Rule, if you go back to 2009 -- when Busch won four races but missed the Chase. Imagine if we go to Richmond for the Chase cutoff and there are three drivers outside the top 10 who have a shot to win their way into the Chase. Say what you want about the Chase, but I love this "wild card" idea -- just another way NASCAR is trying to emphasize winning without ignoring consistency. It's a difficult balance to achieve, and I don't envy the NASCAR brass in the slightest for trying to get there.

7) Carl Edwards had a strong end to 2010; can he be a threat this year?
He can, but I won't say he will. We thought the same thing after he won nine races in 2008 ... and Edwards went winless until the next-to-last race of last season. It can be hard to tell who's strong from year to year, which is part of what makes Johnson's five-year title run so impressive. Edwards and his Roush Fenway Racing team are certainly capable; Edwards is a talented driver, and it appears the Ford teams have the new engine figured out, so it's possible. I'm just not comfortable saying it will; and frankly, I think Edwards' insistence on running the full Nationwide Series schedule, even though he can't win the championship, will detract from his Cup effort.

8) Poor Denny Hamlin ... can he bounce back this year?
This can go either way; Hamlin and the No. 11 team can use last year's collapse as motivation to come out stronger in 2011 -- though it's hard to imagine the team being stronger than when it won eight races last year -- or the team can slump this season, still trying to pick up the pieces. To be frank, Hamiln gave away the title last year, both with his fuel gamble at Phoenix and his early-race contact at Homestead. Hamiln lost last year's title as much as Johnson won it, and how Hamlin performs this season will say a lot about his mental makeup. He could come out and dominate, or he could limp around and struggle to find consistency. It can really go either way.

9) Who's your Chase darkhorse?
I'm tempted to say Brad Keselowski, but that's just the fan in me talking. I'm gonna go with Joey Logano; this will be his third full-time season in the Cup Series, and a lot of experts will tell you that third year in when things really start to come together for a driver. He's obviously got really good cars at Joe Gibbs Racing, and Greg Zipadelli is still regarded as one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. He also had a strong end to 2010. His finishes to close out last season: 7th at Charlotte, 6th at Martinsville, 5th at Talladega, 4th at Texas, 3rd at Phoenix and 39th at Homestead (accident with Juan Pablo Montoya). Watch out for Sliced Bread this year.

10) What's up with Richard Petty Motorsports?
The team's finally got its finances in order, and Richard Petty is now more than just a figurehead. They contracted from four teams to two: the No. 9 or Marcos Ambrose and the No. 43 of A.J. Allmendinger. Both teams are fully funded for the season, and 2011 could be a case of "less is more." Allmendinger showed flashes of brilliance last season when the team was in flux every week, and Ambrose is a threat on the road courses. RPM still won't be the best Ford operation in the Cup garage, but now that the team's financial problems have been resolved, don't be surprised if this team makes a little noise in 2011.

11) Can Jeff Gordon win his fifth straight title?
I say he can, and only because of new crew chief Alan Gustafson. Gordon had fast cars last season, but bad luck and questionable calls from Steve Letarte kept the four-time Cup Series champion out of Victory Lane. Though he made the Chase, Gordon was again an afterthought as his protege won another championship -- No. 5, surpassing Gordon in the record books. Gustafson is one of the brightest minds in the garage, and Gordon has to be motivated by the fact that the guy he helped bring in has been kicking his tail the last few years. Will Gordon complete his Drive For Five? Probably not, but don't be shocked if he does.

12) Will Jimmie Johnson win his sixth straight championship?
I want to say no. I want to say this year's title will go to someone like Denny Hamlin or Kevin Harvick or Jeff Gordon or Carl Edwards. But let's face it; Johnson and the No. 48 team have won the last five championships for a reason, and it'll take a Herculean effort to stop them. Johnson wasn't even at his best last season, and he still won the title. At this point, Johnson's the preseason favorite by default. I'm picking Johnson until someone beats him, so until further notice, Jimmie Johnson is the favorite to win the 2011 championship -- as much as you guys might hate it.

2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season Preview

2011-02-15T11:06:00.003-05:00

Five questions heading into the 2011 Nationwide Series season, which opens on Saturday with the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway ...

1) What's this about full-time Cup drivers no longer being able to win the championship?
NASCAR ruled in the offseason that drivers must select one national series -- Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series or Sprint Cup Series -- in which they will pursue championship points in the coming season. Drivers can still run as many races in the other series as they want, but they will only receive points in one series. Full-time Cup drivers have won the last five Nationwide Series titles, with Martin Truex Jr. the last Nationwide-only driver to claim the title in 2005. Defending champion Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards are still planning to run the full Nationwide schedule -- mostly because of sponsor commitments -- but they will not be elgibile for the title because they selected the Cup Series. This opens the door for guys like Justin Allgaier, Aric Almirola and Trevor Bayne to battle for the championship.

2) So who's the favorite, then?
Hard to tell, really; Allgaier is in a new ride with Turner Motorsports, and this will be Almirola's first full-time season in the Nationwide Series -- though he's in a competitive ride in JR Motorsports' No. 88. Bayne will make some noise, but don't be surprised if the series champion winds up being a former Cup driver; Elliott Sadler will run the full season for Kevin Harvick, Inc., and he has just as good a shot at the title as anyone else. Right now, I see the title coming down to Sadler and Almirola; there's still too much uncertainty surrounding Allgaier and Bayne, and I don't see anyone else capable of rising to the occasion right now.

3) But if the Cup boys can still run all the races, will we see a champion without a win?
It's possible; I would've liked to see NASCAR limit the number of races a full-time Cup driver can run in the Nationwide Series (like, say, 17 races) for that reason. With Keselowski and Edwards still running the full slate -- and Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick likely running their share of races -- the series champion could wind up with one win or none. However, it wouldn't surprise me if Keselowski and/or Edwards bow out midway through the season, if their sponsors allow. I think knowing they can't win the title will deter Cup drivers from saturating the Nationwide Series in the coming years, and the series can once again become a proving ground for the country's young up-and-comers. After all, that's the point of the Nationwide Series -- to groom the next generation of Cup stars.

4) What about the new car? That thing was sweet!
The new-generation Nationwide Series car, which saw the track four times in 2010, will be run full-time this season. The car incorporates all the safety advances in the current-generation Sprint Cup car, but the spoilers and front ends are designed to look sleeker and give back the idea of manufacturer identity; already, Ford and Dodge have benefited by rolling out the Mustang and Challenger, respectively. The cars look great, and the racing in those four races last year was pretty good. NASCAR wants to use these cars as a template for future Cup cars, and I'd say they're doing a pretty good job so far.

5) Will Danica Patrick be back?
Yes, Patrick will run 12 races this season, including the first four before moving over to her ride in the IndyCar Series. Her slate will include a debut at Bristol in March, and Patrick will look to improve on 2010 -- in which her best finish was 19th at Homestead. I still don't see how she can improve if she's spending the year driving in two separate series, going between two cars that are so drastically different. Frankly, I'd like to see her pick a series and stick with it. If she wants to run in NASCAR, I think she needs to fully commit to it. The transition from open-wheel to stock car racing is so jarring that some of the best drivers in the world have struggled with it (Sam Hornish, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya), and she doesn't have nearly the resume of those three. She'll improve, but switching between series will not do her any favors.

Coming Wednesday: 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Preview

2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Season Preview

2011-02-14T09:44:00.002-05:00

We're less than a week away from the official start of the 2011 NASCAR season (if you count the Budweiser Shootout, the season's already started), with Friday night's NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona marking the first points-paying event of the season.

With that in mind, here are five burning questions for the Camping World Truck Series in 2011.

1) Will Todd Bodine repeat as series champion?
Bodine won his second series title in 2010, thanks to four wins -- the most among all full-time drivers -- 17 top-5s and 20 top-10s in 25 starts. That sort of consistency will be difficult to replicate. Not because Bodine's team won't be up to the task, but there are several other teams in the series who will likely be better in 2011. Bodine will be in the mix, but don't bet on him to repeat.

2) Can Ron Hornaday have a bounce-back season?
The 2009 series champion struggled in 2010, only winning two races and recording just 13 top-10s. Consistency was an issue for Hornaday, who found a lot of the trouble he avoided the year prior. We know Hornaday has strong equipment -- Kevin Harvick, Inc. supplies some of the fastest and most reliable trucks in the series. If Hornaday can avoid trouble -- and keep the same crew chief throughout the season -- he could be a threat again in 2011.

3) Will Austin Dillon suffer a sophomore slump?
The 2010 series Rookie of the Year -- who won two races and finished fifth in the standings in his grandfather's black No. 3 Silverado -- will be considered one of the preseason favorites, as well he should. Seven top-5s and 16 top-10s aren't championship material, though, but I expect those numbers to go up as Dillon enters his second full season. Moonlighting Cup drivers aren't a big deal in the Truck Series, so Dillon should win three or four races and challenge for the points title.

4) Can Ricky Carmichael finally break through?
A lot of preseason hype has gone to Travis Pastrana, the latest extreme sports star to give NASCAR a shot. But don't forget about Carmichael, who showed flashes of talent in 2010. He had three top-5s and nine top-10s, but inconsistency left him 13th in the final standings. This will be Carmichael's second full-time season, one that should see him make a little more noise up front so long as he can avoid trouble.

5) Who will win the series title?
It's tempting to pick a "safe" guy, like Bodine or Hornaday -- or maybe even go out on a limb for someone like Matt Crafton (even though he hardly ever wins -- and you have to win at least twice to be a title contender in this series) -- but I'm going with Dillon. He showed remarkable talent and maturity in his rookie season, winning two races and finishing fifth in the final standings. I don't see a sophomore slump in his future (see above), and I honestly think by the time we get to Homestead in November, he'll be hoisting the trophy.

Coming Tuesday: 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season Preview

Suspend Annett for All of 2011

2011-02-08T11:03:00.003-05:00

Nationwide Series driver Michael Annett, who is just weeks away from making his debut with Rusty Wallace Racing, was arrested Sunday morning in Mooresville, N.C. and charged with four counts: driving while intoxicated (DWI), texting and driving, failure to reduce speed and resisting an officer.

A statement for RWR said that Annett would be subject to "a package of sanctions," but that he would be behind the wheel of the No. 62 car in the season opener at Daytona on Feb. 19.

Umm ... what?!

Any time a professional athlete is busted for drunk driving -- reports indicate that Annett's blood-alcohol level was four times the legal limit in North Carolina -- I feel a suspension is in order. That's especially true in NASCAR.

Think about it; Annett was busted for getting behind the wheel when (apparently really) drunk. Do you think he should be climbing into a race car any time soon?

Team owner Rusty Wallace told ESPN.com (remember, Wallace is also an ESPN analyst) that he doesn't take this sort of thing lightly, but if that's the case, then why is Annett being allowed to run at Daytona? Did the sponsor dictate that it would not pay up if Annett wasn't in the car? That wouldn't surprise me -- and as hard as sponsors are to come by these days, it would be tempting for Wallace to acquiesce to the sponsor's request.

Still, Annett apparently has a problem, and if I'm one of his competitors, the last thing I want to see is him on the race track. The late Tim Richmond had the reputation of being a partier, and some drivers used to worry about him being under the influence behind the wheel.

Then there's the tale of the late Rob Moroso. Moroso died in 1990 after he was involved in a high-speed accident near Mooresville, N.C. Officials later found Moroso had a BAC more than twice the legal limit.

We're fortunate Annett didn't become another Moroso.

If I'm NASCAR, Annett doesn't see the season. I don't care about his contract with RWR or his sponsor commitments; he threw all that out the window when he decided to climb behind the wheel with a BAC of .32 (experts say alcohol poisoning usually sets in when the BAC approaches .40).

I don't know if Annett has a drinking problem or not, but he does not deserve to be in a race car this season. Suspend him for 2011 and set rigid guidelines that he must adhere to in order to have any hope of racing in 2012. NASCAR got tough on Shane Hmiel and kicked him out of the sport for drug use; why not treat Annett's incident the same way?

If Annett's allowed to race at Daytona, whatever punishment RWR doles out will be largely meaningless. If NASCAR doesn't step in and park Annett, then the sanctioning body has a large perception problem. There's already one, considering alcohol sponsors are prevalent in the sport, but there's no way Annett can drive.

If Wallace won't do the right thing, NASCAR must: suspend Michael Annett for the 2011 season.

NASCAR Announces New Points System

2011-02-03T11:46:00.003-05:00

I realize I'm a little more than a week late with this, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to digest the particulars and make sure I understood them before offering an opinion. Unlike a lot of NASCAR fans who populate the message boards, I didn't want to fly off the handle with an emotional response without true understanding.

I dunno, I'm odd like that.

As expected, NASCAR announced that it would revamp its points system for the top three national touring series. Race winners would receive 43 points, with second place receiving 42 points, decreasing in 1-point increments all the way down to 43rd place, which would receive one point.

Last place in the Camping World Truck Series is 36th, which would net a driver eight points.

Drivers would receive three bonus points for winning a race. Leading a lap will result in a bonus point, as will leading the most laps. If a driver wins the race and leads the most laps, he'll receive 48 points (cue the conspiracy theories).

Drivers will also receive a three-point bonus for the Chase if they win a "regular season" race. After the fall race at Richmond, the top 10 in points will reset to 2,000, with drivers seeded by wins. Chase positions 11 and 12 will be taken by the drivers outside the top 10 in points, but in the top 20, with the most wins.

Call it the Jamie McMurray Rule.

If drivers between 11th and 20th are tied in wins, or there are no wins, the final two Chase spots will be determined by points position. Imagine if guys 11th through 14th in points went into the fall race at Richmond with a shot to win their way into the Chase.

Just think how awesome that would be.

While I'm still not convinced the point system needed to be simplified, the new formula is, by and large, simpler. Separating each position by one point (before taking bonus points into account) is easier to understand and favors consistency; the emphasis on winning comes in the form of bonus points.

Example: If a driver wins the race and leads the most laps, he receives 48 points. If the second-place finisher doesn't lead a lap, he received 42 points. That's a difference of six points; in a system where each position is only separated by one point, that large a swing can be significant.

Example again: If a driver wins the race, but does not lead the most laps, he receives 47 points. If the second-place driver leads the most laps, he receives 44 points -- leaving the race winner with a 3-point edge.

Again, that's a big span when the difference between, say, third and fourth is one point.

The result? Achieving the delicate balance between consistency -- racing gods help you if you blow a motor and finish 43rd -- and winning. Fans didn't care for Matt Kenseth winning the 2003 title in a rout despite winning just one race, but I'm not sure crowning a driver with eight wins and seven DNFS is the way to go, either.

I would've liked to have seen NASCAR stop awarding points to drivers who finish worse than 30th, similar to Formula 1. Not only would it reward consistency, but it would also stop teams from repairing badly-damaged race cars so a guy can ride around, finish 30th and pick up six points.

But I understand NASCAR President Mike Helton's assertion that every team that shows up to the track deserves some points.

Truth of the matter is, NASCAR will never create a point system that will please everyone -- just as it would never create a schedule or a car template or a television package that will please everyone. While I felt NASCAR had more important issues to address than the point system, this is a system that has the potential to create more exciting racing and more exciting title bouts down the stretch.

And if that happens, then does everything else really matter?

Let's just go racing, already.

The Points System? Really?

2011-01-23T17:21:00.002-05:00

Talk of the NASCAR town over the past week, even in the middle of preseason testing at Daytona, was that the governing body is considering a major overhaul of the points system -- the first time NASCAR would do such a thing since 1974.

Under the proposed system, a race winner would receive 43 points, decreasing in one-point increments all the way down to 43rd place, which would receive one point. NASCAR is also considering changing the Chase to where the top 10 drivers in points would qualify, with the other two spots going to the two drivers outside the top 10 with the most wins.

Just call it the Jamie McMurray Rule.

Honestly, I love the Chase idea; returning to 10 guaranteed spots, with the two wild card positions, is a smart move. McMurray missing the Chase last season after winning the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 felt odd. The move puts further emphasis on winning races, which is good, because the other proposed change doesn't.

Granted, nothing's been mentioned of bonus points -- we don't know what NASCAR will do for drivers who lead a lap or lead the most laps. Maybe there'll be a point bonus for winning the pole. Maybe the driver who wins the race will get the 43 points and a three-point bonus. If NASCAR finds a way to widen the gap between first and second to more than a measly point, then great.

If not, then consistency outweighs winning ... and the fans suffer.

We'll know more in the coming week, when NASCAR announces any changes to the Chase and/or points system. So I'll have more to say about the particulars of the point system once the changes have been officially announced.

But for everything the fans have complained about over the last few years -- the schedule, the Chase, the COT, Jimmie Johnson winning five straight titles -- I've never once heard the fans complain that the points system was confusing.

While you may not have been able to recall from memory how many points you get for finishing 14th, the basics were simple: lead a lap, get five points. Lead the most laps, get five more points. First place gets 15 more points than second place, before bonus points are considered. A regular-season win nets a driver 10 bonus points for Chase seeding.

See? Simple.

I understand NASCAR wants to make the product more accessible to the casual fan and simultaneously find a way to court a younger demographic. But is revamping a decades-old point system really the way to go?

NASCAR has done a lot of things right in recent years: between double-file restarts, green-white-checkered finishes and the return of the rear spoiler, last season was one of the best in recent memory. The sport also had some momentum coming into 2011, with the revamped front splitter and a new rule that will keep a full-time Cup driver from winning the Nationwide Series title for the first time since 2005.

Why revamp the point system? Why wait until less than a month before the season starts to do it?

If NASCAR finds a way for the 43-to-1 system to reward consistency and winning, then the system has a chance to work. But without a way to further reward winning, the result could be conservative racing.

And I'm still not convinced the point system needed the overhaul.

History Again: Johnson Wins Fifth Straight Cup

2010-11-22T11:11:00.003-05:00

Midway through the race at Phoenix -- when Denny Hamlin was dominating and Jimmie Johnson was mired in the back end of the top 10 -- I began thinking my pre-Chase pick to win the Sprint Cup was up in smoke.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, picking Johnson and the No. 48 team. They'd won the last four, and it felt like a smart pick to go with that team unless and until someone beat them. And at the time, it looked like Hamlin and the No. 11 team were about to do that.

Then the fuel gamble at Phoenix happened. And 24 laps into Sunday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hamlin made contact with Greg Biffle and slid through the grass, damaging the right front corner of his splitter. His crew fought valiantly to fix the damage, but the car was never the same.

Johnson, meanwhile, had a relatively easy day of it (even when his pit crew lost him spots in the pits), finishing second to Carl Edwards and clinching his fifth straight Sprint Cup Series championship. Johnson is now third all-time in titles, behind Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt, who each have seven.

No, you did not read that wrong.

We can debate the validity of Johnson's titles with relation to Earnhardt and Petty, since they were won under different formats, later. But the fact remains that Johnson is among the best in the sport's modern era, and he's eclipsed even his mentor, Jeff Gordon, since he now has one more championship under his belt.

But the way that Johnson won this title, pushed like no other time during his run by Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, makes this one so remarkable. After Hamlin won at Martinsville and Texas, taking the points lead in the latter race before so thoroughly dominating Phoenix, it was easy to say Hamlin had it in the bag.

Even though he was only up by 15 points heading into Homestead, Hamlin seemed like a good pick; after all, the leader heading into the final race hadn't lost since that epic three-way battle in 1992.

But Hamlin could never recover from his early incident. Though he won a series-high eight races this season, doubling his career total, Hamlin came up 39 points short -- having a bad day at the worst possible time.

Still, look out for Hamlin in 2011. Sometimes you have to lose a championship before you win one.

The amazing thing about Johnson's run this year was how consistent he ran once the Chase started. Consider the finishes: 25th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 5th and 2nd. That's one finish outside the top 10 and seven top-5s. Johnson may have only won one race, but he was more consistent than either Hamlin or Harvick.

It also helped that crew chief Chad Knaus had a little extra motivation thanks to some trash talk from Hamlin's crew chief Mike Ford after the Texas race. Knaus admitted after Sunday's race how much those comments bothered him, and he turned that into motivation to go out and get this title.

Little tip to the No. 11 team and everyone else; trash-talking the No. 48 team will backfire on you. Especially if you've yet to actually win a championship.

Can Johnson make it six in a row next season? No reason to think he can't, though I think Harvick and Hamlin will have something to say about it. Don't forget about Edwards, either; ending 2010 with back-to-back wins could catapult Edwards back into championship contention in 2011.

Next season could prove to be just as competitive and exciting as this year, which should excite any NASCAR fan. But before we look ahead to 2011, we'd be remiss if we didn't give proper due to Johnson for the history he made in 2010.

Mad props, JJ.

A New Champion?

2010-11-17T20:55:00.002-05:00

I picked Jimmie Johnson to win his fifth straight Sprint Cup Series championship before the Chase started back in September, and that still looks like a really good choice, even as Johnson sits 15 points behind Denny Hamlin heading into this weekend's finale at Homestead-Miami.

Part of me wants to stick with that prediction. But the more I think about this, the more convinced I am that Hamlin will hoist the trophy Sunday evening, not Johnson or Kevin Harvick.

Spare me the argument that Hamlin blew it last weekend in Phoenix, how fuel strategy would ultimately cost him the championship. First of all, Hamlin still holds the points lead after his 12th-place finish in the desert. Secondly, I don't buy the argument that Hamlin lost his cool in a very un-champion-like fashion afterward, tossing a water bottle at his car before expressing his disappointment in the post-race interview.

It was the heat of the moment. Hamlin had the day's best car -- leading a race-high 190 laps -- and would've finished first or second to pad his points lead had fuel not been an issue. I guarantee you'd be peeved if that had been you.

The reason I feel better about Hamlin with each passing day is two-fold: momentum and fast cars.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Hamlin has momentum on his side, as planned. Since Martinsville, Hamlin has turned up the proverbial wick, winning at Martinsville and Texas, while surviving Talladega and dominating Phoenix before being bitten by strategy. His 12th-place effort at Phoenix was Hamlin's worst of the Chase, and Hamlin is the defending winner at Homestead.

Also, Hamlin's cars this season have been fast. Not just as Martinsville or Pocono or Richmond; he's been fast at plate tracks and intermediate tracks. Wins at Texas, Darlington and Michigan expanded Hamlin's resume, and in recent weeks, Hamlin's cars have been faster than Johnson's or Harvick's.

So when you have a fast car and a good pit crew -- one you didn't swap for just two weeks ago -- and a game plan that you've stuck with, even as Johnson dominated Dover and ripped off top-5 after top-5, you feel pretty good being up 15 points heading into the finale.

No doubt Hamlin will have to be on his game on Sunday to beat Johnson and Harvick. But Hamlin has been on his game all season, even in the immediate aftermath of ACL surgery. When he came to Phoenix in April, just 10 days after surgery, Hamlin struggled with an ill-handling race car that had also been damaged, while also dealing with horrible pain in his knee.

But Hamlin never called for a relief driver. He toughed it out at Phoenix, showing his team his commitment to this season. The following week, Hamlin won at Texas.

Everyone likes to talk about how Johnson bounces back from adversity and steps up when it matters most, but that's exactly what Hamlin has done this season. Adversity and poor finishes that would've doomed the No. 11 team in years past haven't this year; Hamlin simply bounces back and lets the on-track results speak for themselves.

I've yet to see anything to tell me this time will be different. I look for Hamlin to not only take the championship this weekend, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does so in Victory Lane.

Where To Start?

2010-11-09T14:14:00.002-05:00

Who says NASCAR is boring?

So much happened in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway that I honestly don't know where to begin. Do we go with Denny Hamlin's statement win that has him 33 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson with two races left in the Chase?

What about the Jeff Gordon-Jeff Burton fight, which was unexpected and far more violent than other driver tussles in recent memory?

Or Kyle Busch giving a NASCAR official the double bird while serving a penalty, only to be slapped with another two-lap penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct?

Maybe we could talk about how No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus effectively benched his pit crew after several slow pit stops and replaced them with the No. 24 pit crew after Gordon's wreck?

I guess I could hit on all the points briefly.

Hamlin's Statement: Could we finally see a champion other than Johnson in the Sprint Cup Series? If Hamlin and the No. 11 team have any say in it -- and crew chief Mike Ford had plenty to say after the race Sunday -- yes. Hamlin's win at Texas -- his second at the track this season, eighth win of the year and second in the last three races -- gives him a 33-point lead over Johnson with two races left.

The last time the points leader with two races to go lost the championship was in 1992, when Alan Kulwicki waged a comeback for the ages to win his lone Cup Series title.

Johnson's numbers at Phoenix -- four wins, a 4.9 average finish -- are sick, but don't discount Hamlin. He finished second at Phoenix last November and the No. 11 team thrives on flat tracks (see Martinsville, New Hampshire, Pocono). Hamlin is also the defending race winner at Homestead, site of the season finale.

Twice in the Chase, Hamlin has said he would win, and both times he did. Maybe the No. 11 team has the stones and the wherewithal to finally dethrone Johnson.

FIGHT!: When Gordon and Burton wrecked under caution midway through the race, it was an odd turn of events. Replays of the incident made it appear Burton intentionally drove Gordon into the fence -- which doesn't make a lot of sense, because anyone who knows what kind of driver Burton is knows he doesn't do stuff like that.

Which is why I buy his explanation that the contact was incidental, and that he couldn't get off Gordon's car as it careened toward the wall.

Gordon didn't buy that explanation, though, walking almost the length of the back straightaway to confront Burton. This wasn't a shouting match, though; Gordon greeted Burton with a shove (far harder than the one he gave Matt Kenseth at Bristol a few years back) before trying to get Burton in a headlock to deliver a few punches to the face.

NASCAR officials separated the two ... before making them climb into the same ambulance to be taken to the infield care center. What kind of sense does that make?

Still, the fight was a hit (did you hear the fans when it happened?), and let's not forget: NASCAR first rose to national prominence in 1979 ... when a few guys named Allison and Cale Yarborough had a fight after the Daytona 500. Sponsors might not like this sort of stuff, but the fans obviously do.

Disrespecting Officials: When an NFL or NBA coach or player criticizes officials after a game, the respective leagues hand down pretty big fines. The NBA even issues fines for players or coaches who verbally berate officials during the game. Could you imagine what would happen if LeBron James gave an official the double bird during an NBA game?

That's basically what Kyle Busch did on Sunday. After spinning, Busch was caught speeding off pit road to stay on the lead lap. When Busch came back into the pits to serve his one-lap penalty, Busch hurled a couple choice words over the radio, and as he sat in his stall, he gave the NASCAR official standing in front of his car not one, but two middle fingers.

For several seconds. For the in-car camera to see. NASCAR responded by giving Busch a two-lap "unsportsmanlike conduct" penalty, and crew chief Dave Rogers chewed his driver a new one over the radio (wonder how many times Steve Addington wanted to do that).

NASCAR hinted after the race further punishments might be coming during the week -- because berating and disrespecting officials is just one thing NASCAR cannot, and will not, tolerate. "Boys, have at it" applies only to the drivers (see Gordon and Burton), not to directing officials.

Substitution: An awful lot of noise being made over Knaus benching the No. 48 pit crew midway through Sunday's race in favor of the No. 24 crew -- who had been consistently turning in better pit stops throughout the day.

Look ... Knaus is trying to win another championship, and if he felt swapping pit crews was the way to do it, then so be it. It's obviously not against the rules (no matter how much the conspiracy theorists want it to be), and it's not terribly different from what Richard Childress did before the Martinsville race, when he swapped the pit crews for Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer.

Childress just didn't make the move in the middle of a race.

Johnson said it best after the race: the No. 48 team is in it to win a championship, and if the team isn't performing, a change had to be made. If any feelings were hurt ... well, too bad.

One More Thing: Congratulations to Brad Keselowski and the No. 22 Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Penske Dodge team. With a third-place finish on Saturday at Texas, Keselowski clinched the 2010 Nationwide Series championship with two races to go.

Well Well Well ...

2010-10-25T11:44:00.002-04:00

What was it I said a few weeks ago about crowning Jimmie Johnson?

Sure, things looked great for Johnson after winning at Dover and finishing second to Greg Biffle at Kansas -- hell, with Fontana, Charlotte and Martinsville on the horizon, I would've felt pretty damn good if I were in the No. 48 camp. And with finishes of third, third and fifth in those three races, Johnson still has the points lead.

But Denny Hamlin is coming. Consider:

-As strong as Johnson is at Martinsville, Hamlin is just as good. His win on Sunday is Hamlin's third straight at the Virginia short track. Hamlin and Johnson have combined to win the last eight races at Martinsville.

-Hamlin led laps at both Charlotte and Martinsville. Johnson didn't. That's 10 bonus points to Hamlin.

-Late at Fontana, Clint Bowyer got by Johnson -- five points swinging Hamlin's way. Kyle Busch got by Johnson late at Charlotte, another five-point swing for Hamlin. Johnson's short-run car faltered in the long run to end Sunday's race, and when Busch got by Johnson for fourth, that was another five-point swing Hamlin's way.

-When Johnson finished 25th at Loudon to open the Chase, Hamlin finished second. Johnson has finished 25th, first, second, third, third and fifth so far in the Chase; Hamlin has finished second, ninth, 12th, eighth, fourth and first.

-Johnson's six-point lead is the closest margin between first and second in the points this late into the Chase in the format's history.

So the momentum is clearly swinging Hamlin's way, as he sits just six points out of the lead as the series heads to Talladega this weekend. As we all know, anything can happen at Talladega; Johnson's escaped the track unscathed each of the last four years -- even missing the Big One in 2008 that took out virtually all of the other Chase drivers -- but his luck has to run out at some point, right?

But don't forget Kevin Harvick, only 62 points out after a strong run Sunday. He's great at Talladega, and he won there back in the spring. Talladega could be the track where the "regular season" points leader finally makes his move.

Or maybe the top three in points all get caught up in the big wreck, and someone we thought was out of it -- say, Busch or Jeff Gordon -- wins the race to reassert themselves in the Chase heading into the last three races.

You just never know.

But we do know this: Hamlin had to be strong at Martinsville. He had to finish in front of Johnson. He did just that, even backing up his pre-race prediction that he would win. Hamlin and Johnson now each have seven wins this season, and just six points separate them with four races left.

Buckle up, boys and girls. Things are about to get interesting ...

The Legacy of Tim Richmond

2010-10-22T10:41:00.003-04:00

What exactly is the late Tim Richmond's legacy?

The ESPN 30 For 30 documentary, Tim Richmond: To The Limit, which aired Tuesday night, offers a few possibilities. Some might choose to remember him as a great driver with an unrivaled charisma and personality that endeared him to fans and rubbed fellow competitors the wrong way. Others might remember him as a wild party animal whose outlandish lifestyle ultimately caught up with him.

Or maybe it was simply as the late Dale Earnhardt once said, "That man can drive."

Boy, could he -- to the tune of 13 career wins in what was then the Winston Cup Series, including seven in 1986, when he finished third in the points and tied with Earnhardt for Driver of the Year. Then winning his first two races back in 1987 -- at Pocono and Riverside -- following his first health-induced hiatus.

Richmond's talent was never disputed, but in the 1980s, he was everything NASCAR wasn't. He wasn't a good ol' boy. He was handsome, charming, hailed from Ohio. He loved flying private jets to Manhattan and Los Angeles, he favored designer clothes -- and boy, did he like to party.

Competitors were wary of Richmond, at best.

I view Richmond the same way I see Davey Allison; a young driver with plenty of promise and talent, snuffed out way before his time. Fans always have an "If only ..." wistfulness about them when they talk about Allison, and the same can be said of Richmond.

What if Richmond, who had the bulk of his success driving for Rick Hendrick, hadn't died in 1989? What if he'd never contracted AIDS? Would Earnhardt still have won his seven Cup titles? Would Jeff Gordon have won four? If Richmond's career had run its full course, where would he be on the all-time wins list?

Would we be debating his candidacy for the NASCAR Hall of Fame?

NASCAR practically forced Richmond out of the sport amid rumors he had AIDS -- something he never publicly disclosed because he knew his career would be over. This was before other prominent athletes, such as Lakers legend Magic Johnson, came forward with the disease, and so little was known about it.

AIDS was still considered a gay disease back then. If you had it, that meant you were gay. NASCAR had no idea what to do with that. Yes, it was crass and deplorable, but that was the climate back in the 1980s. Hindsight tells us NASCAR was wrong to ostracize Richmond for his disease, but even the medical community knew little about AIDS back then.

If a driver came forward with AIDS today, the response would likely be much different.

Frankly, NASCAR today could use another driver like Richmond. Not necessarily for his talent -- there are plenty of talented drivers out there -- but because of his personality and carefree attitude. Sponsors might not care for that, but fans see today's drivers as boring corporate cardboard cutouts; a guy like Richmond coming in to shake things up would be just the medicine NASCAR needs.

Then again, Richmond was one of a kind. There will never be another like him, and I'm glad ESPN and NASCAR decided to tell his story for today's audience. Despite his tragic downfall, Tim Richmond is one of NASCAR's legends, and he deserves to be remembered.

But just think of what could've been if he hadn't died. If only ...

McMurray Presents Quandry

2010-10-21T19:58:00.002-04:00

What a year for Jamie McMurray.

He won the Daytona 500. He won the Brickyard 400. And on Saturday night, he won the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, becoming the first non-Chase driver to win a Chase race since ... Jamie McMurray, last year at Talladega.

In picking up his third win of the season, a resurgent McMurray is having the season of his life.

But he's not in the Chase. Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth -- all of whom have not won this year -- are. Granted, there's something to be said for consistency; McMurray has seven finishes of 25th or worse this season, all but off-setting his career-best nine top-5s and 11 top-10s.

But shouldn't the driver who's won three of the biggest races of the season have a spot in NASCAR's version of the playoffs?

The debate over which matters more -- wins or consistency -- is almost as old as NASCAR itself. It flared up in 2003, after Kenseth won the title with just one win -- and essentially created the Chase -- and eventually resulted in the current formula where every driver who wins a race in the first 26 races receives a 10-point bonus that amounts to seeding once the Chase starts.

But consistency still rules the day -- which explains how winless drivers make the Chase, while McMurray, easily the 2010 Comeback Driver of the Year (if NASCAR gave such an award), is on the outside looking in.

Not that McMurray's complaining. He's made history, both for himself and for car owner Chip Ganassi. He's got over $6 million in the bank this season alone, and he's got three more wins this season than a four-time Cup Series champion.

It's a tight rope, determining whether wins or consistent finishes should wind up deciding the champion. In a perfect world, both would be rewarded; the season is long, and a run of several poor finishes would doom anyone. But logically, there is a problem when the winner of the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 can't even compete for the championship.

McMurray may not be complaining. But it's definitely a head-scratcher.

The 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class Is ...

2010-10-13T16:24:00.003-04:00

David Pearson: Pearson is a three-time NASCAR champion whose career total of 105 victories is second on the all-time list (behind only Richard Petty). Pearson won his titles in 1966, '68 and '69. He also won the sport's biggest event, the Daytona 500, in 1976. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers." Many argued that he should've been included in the inaugural Hall class, and if the class had been larger, he would've been enshrined alongside the likes of Petty and Dale Earnhardt.

Bobby Allison: Allison, winner of the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship, ended his career with 84 victories, tied with Darrell Waltrip for third on the all-time list. In 1972, he won 10 races, had 12 second-place finishes, finishing second in the championship to Richard Petty. Allison captured the NASCAR Modified Special Division championship in 1962 and '63, and then went on to win the Modified Division the following two years. In 1998, Allison was named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers."

Lee Petty: Richard Petty's father became the sport's first three-time series champion after winning titles in 1954, '58 and '59. He also was the winner of the first Daytona 500 in 1959 over Johnny Beauchamp, decided after three days of reviewing the classic photo finish. His 54 career victories stands ninth on the all-time list and he never finished lower than fourth in points from 1949-59. In 1998, he was named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers." Petty is also the founder of Petty Enterprises; as an owner, he had more than 2,000 starts and 268 victories.

Ned Jarrett: Jarrett was a two-time NASCAR champion (1961 and '65) and two-time Sportsman Division champion (1957 and '58). Through his career, he totaled 50 premier series victories, tied for 11th all time. In 1998 he was named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers." After retiring in 1966, Jarrett helped grow the sport through his second career as a broadcaster. Much of NASCAR's growth coincided with Jarrett's presence in the booth, for multiple outlets including ESPN and CBS. Perhaps his most famous call came in 1993, when he sat in the CBS booth while son Dale Jarrett captured his first Daytona 500.

Bud Moore: A decorated World War II infantryman, Bud Moore became a successful Cup owner almost immediately upon fielding a team in 1961. Moore won back-to-back championships in 1962-63 with Joe Weatherly. Earlier, in 1957, Moore -- who referred to himself as "a country mechanic" -- was crew chief for champion Buck Baker. Among those who have driven for Bud Moore at some point in their careers: Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Isaac, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Ricky Rudd and Donnie Allison.

Now, before I get into the debate over who should've gotten in but didn't, let's remember that the NASCAR Hall of Fame is still in its first year. We're still at the point where we're talking about nominees who are virtually guaranteed enshrinement; it's not a matter of if a lot of these guys will get in, but when.

Good luck convincing me guys like Red Byron and Darrell Waltrip won't soon find themselves in the Hall of Fame. Same goes for Dale Inman and Cale Yarborough.

At this point, all arguments over Hall of Fame induction boil down to the order of enshrinement; who should go first -- legendary drivers who captured fans' imaginations or those who pioneered the sport and made stock car racing what it is today? It's an interesting debate, one I'm not sure I have an answer for.

I find it interesting that Allison was enshrined, but not Waltrip -- who's tied with him with 84 career wins -- or Yarborough, who has 83. Waltrip and Yarborough each have three championships -- Yarborough three straight -- to Allison's one. I'm not saying Allison doesn't deserve enshrinement -- he certainly does -- but ahead of two guys with more titles?

Waltrip also has the "ambassador to the sport" angle, given his TV work over the past decade. If we're going to factor that into Jarrett's induction, then it has to work in DW's favor.

And what of the pioneers? Guys like Byron and Raymond Parks? Parks was the Rick Hendrick of his day, owning the first championship-winning car in 1949, and his enshrinement seems inevitable. Still, the sooner the pioneers are enshrined, the better -- after all, how can we truly understand NASCAR's present if we don't constantly remind ourselves of its past?

I'm also vehement in suggesting Inman deserves enshrinement ASAP. The winningest crew chief ever with eight -- he won seven with Petty and another with Terry Labonte in 1984 -- Inman was as much a pioneer as the names mentioned above. People like to talk about Ray Evernham or Chad Knaus being eventual Hall of Famers, but it would be a travesty if they're inducted before Inman.

Like I said, we're still talking about people who will be enshrined -- we're still a few years away from truly starting to debate whether or not someone deserves to be inducted -- but I think it would behoove NASCAR and the Hall of Fame voting panel if we started recognizing the pioneers and a few of the more accomplished drivers.

All in all, though, this year's inductees are fine additions to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The 25 nominees were excellent candidates, and to whittle them down to five couldn't have been easy. Here's hoping some of the names I mentioned above are called next year.

Best Fontana Race Ever?

2010-10-11T14:36:00.003-04:00

Sunday's Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway was historic on a couple fronts -- most notably as the last Chase race at the 2-mile oval in southern California and the first race at the track to be 400 miles instead of 500.

The result? Quite possibly the best race ever at a track that has often produced pedestrian racing.

The first half of the race was typical Fontana; long green-flag runs, a lot of single-file racing and the leader checking out on the field. But the final 100 laps produced enough excitement to make up for it, with battles up front for the lead complimented by four-, five- and sometimes even six-wide racing back in the pack.

Sometimes, the action on the backstretch more closely resembled Talladega than Fontana.

But why was this race so thrilling when so many others at this track have been snoozers? Was it the hot conditions, leading to a slicker race track that had less grip? Was there desperation on everyone's part to beat points leader Jimmie Johnson at a track he has so thoroughly dominated? Was it the fact that there were 50 fewer laps, and thus a greater sense of urgency?

Possibly all of the above; though I would definitely be in favor of every Sprint Cup race at this track being 400 miles. Some tracks don't take kindly to 500-mile marathons, and Fontana is one of them.

Now, to get Pocono down to 400 miles ...

Tony Stewart won the race to vault himself into fifth in the standings, 107 behind Johnson (who finished third). Stewart also whittled down his list of Sprint Cup tracks on which he has yet to win to two -- Las Vegas and Darlington.

On a day where a lot of other Chase drivers struggled -- blown motors for Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch, an accident for Kurt Busch -- Stewart truly helped his championship hopes goes into the last six races.

Don't count Stewart out. He's got four guys to leapfrog over (Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon), but if anyone can do it, it's him.

Does Sunday's race mean Fontana deserved to keep both dates after all? No, because the attendance issues still haven't been resolved. That was what prompted NASCAR to move one date from Fontana to Kansas in the first place -- not the mediocre racing, but all those empty seats. Sunday's race had its share, and the thinking is that with one date starting next year -- in late March -- interest in the race will rekindle.

If that race sticks to 400 miles, and we see the sort of side-by-side, slipping and sliding action we saw on Sunday, something tells me the fans will start coming back to Fontana.

New Sprint Cup Car Unveiled ... Sort Of

2010-10-07T21:31:00.002-04:00

When NASCAR introduced the current-generation race car in 2007 -- then dubbed the Car of Tomorrow -- the sanctioning body was adamant that no changes would be forthcoming, even as fan complaints regarding aesthetics and competition increased.

Then NASCAR removed the rear wing this past March and replaced it with a spoiler. The aesthetic improvement was immediate, and though I haven't noticed much difference in competition, some have made the argument that getting rid of the wing has produced better racing.

More changes are coming in 2011, but they're not as radical as one might fear. In fact, the changes have already been previewed in the Nationwide Series, which ran the new-generation car in a few races earlier this year (and will do so one more time next Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway). The new Nationwide Series car has a front splitter, but it's more rounded and does not have the braces featured on the current Sprint Cup Series car and the trucks in the Camping World Truck Series.

Well, if you saunter on over to Jayski and visit the page for 2011 Sprint Cup Series paint schemes, you'll notice that the front ends look ... different. More rounded, no splitter braces. Reports earlier this season indicated NASCAR is looking to bring manufacturer identity back to the series, perhaps by 2012 or 2013.

Some would extrapolate that means NASCAR wants pony cars in the Sprint Cup Series by that time. With the new Nationwide Series cars, which will be run full-time next season, Ford has brought the Mustang into NASCAR, while Dodge has received rave reviews for its Challenger.

So think about that. Pony cars in the Sprint Cup Series? Possibly.

In the meantime, enjoy this image of what Jimmie Johnson's car could look like next season.

NASCAR and South Park: a Winning Combination?

2010-10-07T10:24:00.002-04:00

Kenny McCormack is poor and stupid -- so naturally, he loves NASCAR.

At least, that's how Eric Cartman thinks on Wednesday night's episode of South Park on Comedy Central. The long-running animated comedy turned its attention to America's premiere form of motorsport in its most recent episode, and anyone who knows anything about the show should've had an idea of what was coming:

Lots of NASCAR stereotypes, and maybe a few "Oh, no they didn't!" moments. After all, we're talking about South Park here -- there isn't anyone that show hasn't gone after in its 13-year run. So knowing what I was in for going in, I wasn't offended. I was uncomfortable on a few occasions, which I'll get into in a moment, but I was far from offended.

See, when done right, NASCAR stereotypes can be funny. Let's face it, the stereotypes are there because at some point, to some degree, they've been true.

But was the episode funny?

Frankly, I didn't think so. I love South Park, and I think it's one of the funniest shows on the air. Even when the show lampoons people I like or causes I believe in, it does so with such wit that it's still entertaining. But last night's episode missed the mark; much like Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby, I found the vast majority of the show's jokes flat and uninspired.

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode yet, and hope to catch it either online or when Comedy Central re-airs it, stop reading.

Basically, Cartman wants to be a NASCAR driver ... but doesn't think he'll make it, because he's not poor or stupid enough. When his friend Kyle convinces him that he is in fact poor and stupid, Cartman enlists the help of Butters (who will obviously never learn) and embarks on a quest to become a big-time NASCAR driver.

The first try? Downing a bunch of Vagisil to kill brain cells (I am not making this shit up), hijacking a car that looks suspiciously like Jeff Gordon's before a race, only to drive the wrong way on the track, send another car flying into the stands and flip into a lake near Victory Lane.

Fans were killed, the media lambasted fans for being stupid ... and Cartman landed a sponsorship deal from Vagisil.

Which leads me to Uncomfortable Moment #1: the car flying into the stands, and the reporter later claiming several fans had been killed. Considering last year's near-miss at Talladega -- you know, Carl Edwards nearly flying into the crowd -- I thought this was a bit on the nose. I know South Park goes for shock value, but ... damn.

Cut to a press conference before the next race (apparently, in South Park, the big boys race in Colorado) ... where reporters are asking star drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Danica Patrick questions. Cartman butts into the intelligent discussion about track temperatures and tire biases to make more "poor and stupid" comments -- before insulting both Earnhardt and Patrick when they questioned him.

Brief aside ... Junior in a Budweiser firesuit? Hello, 2007. Also, Kenseth and DeWalt parted ways last year. Get with it, South Park!

After a brief spoof of one of my favorite TV shows, ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, we get back to the track -- where Cartman proceeds to wreck people on the pace lap. That Cartman would be on a rampage, wrecking everyone in sight, is no surprise -- but when Patrick gets out of her car and winds up run over by Cartman ... hello, Uncomfortable Moment #2.

Eventually, Cartman has wrecked everyone -- to the delight of Vagisil's founder. Kenny has spent all this time trying to stop Cartman, determined to defend NASCAR fans against the "poor and stupid" stereotype, even going so far as to try and bring a sniper rifle to the track (only to have the security guard at the gate tell him he can't bring it in, but "you can probably buy one at the gift shop" -- I'll admit, that was funny).

At one point, Kenny winds up on the track, watching two cars side-by-side barreling toward him. Ironically, they miss him. Oh, my God ... they didn't kill Kenny!

But now the Vagisil founder's wife, tired of being the brunt of his insults, decides a little revenge is in order. So she goes out, pulls Johnson from his wrecked car, and proceeds to beat and bang with Cartman as they approach the finish line.

And guess what ... even in South Park, the No. 48 car wins.

It's not fair.

At the end of it all, Cartman didn't learn his lesson. Then again, he never does. I appreciate that the show took pains to show just how wrong Cartman was, but all in all, this wasn't one of their better episodes. It wasn't all that funny, and even though I was never offended, those uncomfortable moments helped ruin the experience.

In a way, South Park paying attention to NASCAR can be seen as a good thing; this is still the country's second most popular spectator sport behind the NFL, but the sport does need to bring in more, younger fans. I don't know if an episode of South Park can help with that, but I don't see how it can hurt, either.

My only suggestion is this: next time South Park wants to tackle NASCAR, at least make it funny.

Don't Crown Johnson Yet

2010-10-04T15:10:00.002-04:00

Former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green is largely famous for a post-game tirade a few years back when he said of the Chicago Bears, "Now, if you wanna crown 'em, then crown their asses! But they are who we thought they were! That's why we took the damn field!"

Well, Jimmie Johnson is who we thought he was, but don't go crowning his ass (or anything else) just yet. Yes, he followed up his win at Dover with a strong second-place running Sunday at Kansas, and yes, he now has the points lead -- by eight over Denny Hamlin.

Cynics and pundits might be tempted to just hand Johnson his fifth straight Sprint Cup Series championship after Sunday's race -- where Johnson rebounded from an ill-handling car early to turn in a vintage Johnson performance -- but in the words of college football analyst Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend.

After all, the top 10 in points are closer at this point than they've ever been, with 10th-place Tony Stewart just 127 points back. The top eight in points are separated by just 85 points, and one bad run or bout of misfortune can leave Johnson in a hole. With seven races to go, that's a possibility.

I realize the series heads to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. next -- where Johnson has five career wins and three of the last four there -- and then Charlotte and Martinsville (all tracks very good for Johnson on paper), but there's no telling. Johnson might win at Fontana, or his engine might blow.

As strong as Johnson is at Martinsville, Hamlin is just as strong.

And don't forget ... Talladega is still looming on the horizon. Anything can happen there; theoretically, anyone but Clint Bowyer could leave Talladega the points leader. I realize Johnson has successfully navigated Talladega each of the last four years -- even in 2008, when the Big One seemed to claim literally every other Chase contender -- but that luck has to run out sooner or later, right?

If it sounds like I'm grasping at anything to avoid facing the reality of a fifth straight title from Johnson ... well, that might be true, but that doesn't make me wrong in anything I've said. On paper, the championship appears to be Johnson's for the taking. The tracks line up -- on paper -- and no one else has been quite as strong through three Chase races (not even Greg Biffle, who won at Kansas).

But you just never know. Fluke things happen. Parts break. Maybe Johnson finds himself around Sam Hornish Jr., like he did last year in Texas. Maybe he gets caught up in something else not of his doing. Maybe the No. 48 team makes another mistake, like they seemed to do in the regular season.

Or maybe Johnson dominates, wins two of the next three races and leaves everyone else scratching their heads. You never know.

Johnson might very well win his fifth straight title, but given how tight the points are, and some of the obstacles looming on the horizon, crown his ass at your own risk.

Don't Look Now ...

2010-09-28T16:05:00.002-04:00

... but here comes Jimmie Johnson.

It's almost like clockwork, the way Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and the rest of the No. 48 team assert themselves in the final 10 races of the Sprint Cup season, even after everyone's written them off and deemed someone else "the favorite." This year, the favorite is Denny Hamlin (who, to be fair, is still the points leader) and Johnson had his share of "regular season" struggles that led everyone to think this might be the year someone unseats him.

Then Dover happened.

Johnson spanked the field at Dover International Speedway on Sunday, leading the most laps in winning his sixth race of the season. The Monster Mile is Johnson's personal playground (much like Martinsville and Fontana and Charlotte); he's won there six times -- including three of the last four.

That Johnson won in such dominant fashion at Dover is not surprising. But given the lackluster way in which the No. 48 team opened the Chase in New Hampshire -- struggling to a 25th-place finish -- the team needed a rebound like this. There are still eight races left, including wild card tracks Martinsville and Talladega -- and Hamlin has consistently outperformed Johnson on the intermediate tracks this season, but make no mistake ... the Chase still goes through the No. 48 team, and it will not be taken from that team easily.

There's a reason Johnson is the four-time defending series champion; he and Knaus have mastered the seven-year-old championship format better than any other team, altering NASCAR history in the process. Without the Chase, Johnson would have one championship, maybe two.

Without the Chase, Johnson's mentor, Jeff Gordon, would have six titles and we'd be talking about whether or not he can tie Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt for the most Cup Series championships ever.

Without the Chase, Kyle Busch or Carl Edwards might've won in 2008 -- and Tony Stewart very well could've won it last year in his first year as an owner-driver.

Without the Chase, Kevin Harvick would be well on his way to winning his first Cup Series title, giving car owner Richard Childress his first championship since Earnhardt won his seventh in 1994.

These scenarios make for rousing debate -- particularly among fans who don't like the Chase format -- but I can't help but wonder how much of this is based on Johnson's dominance. If we'd had four different champions over the past four years, would we still see all of this anti-Chase sentiment?

What if Edwards won in 2008? Or Stewart last year? Would we still be crying foul over the Chase? Or are we all getting our collective panties in a bunch because the No. 48 team has figured out how to win the Chase better than anyone else? Is this a case of "Don't hate the player; hate the game"?

Though I'm noticing a lot of hate for both player and game.

Make no mistake; I'm no Johnson fan. But what he's accomplishing can neither be denied nor compared to other great champions in the sport. Petty never had to deal with a Chase, and all four of Gordon's titles were pre-Chase. That's not to say their championships are better or worse than Johnson's; they're just different.

But Johnson has already made history, and if his performance at Dover is any indication, he might just make more. And if any fan wants to let that be the reason he stops watching, then maybe he wasn't really a fan in the first place.

Like it or not, the championship still goes through Jimmie Johnson.

2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup Preview

2010-09-13T01:58:00.002-04:00

Now that the 12-driver field for this year's Sprint Cup Series championship is set, it's time to look at all the contenders and determine who really has a shot at the title.

The Schedule
Sept. 19 -- New Hampshire
Sept. 26 -- Dover
Oct. 3 -- Kansas
Oct. 10 -- Fontana
Oct. 16 -- Charlotte
Oct. 24 -- Martinsville
Oct. 31 -- Talladega
Nov. 7 -- Texas
Nov. 14 -- Phoenix
Nov. 21 -- Homestead

The Drivers
1) Denny Hamlin (6 wins, 10 top-5s, 11 top-10s)
Hamlin was a trendy preseason pick to unseat four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, and seemed to prove all the experts right after winning five races following knee surgery. But a summer swoon plagued the No. 11 team before Hamlin spanked the field at Richmond on Saturday for his series-leading sixth win of the season -- making him the points leader now that we've reset for the Chase. Hamlin's got the speed, but reliability issues -- see blown motor at Atlanta -- could do him in. If the equipment stays together, Hamlin will be a factor.

2) Jimmie Johnson (5 wins, 10 top-5s, 14 top-10s)
Don't let the summer swoon fool you; Johnson is every bit the Chase threat he was the last four years when he won them all. The No. 48 has always had a rough stretch during or before the summer that leads everyone to think they're vulnerable -- before they turn around in the final 10 races and spank everyone. That could well happen this year, because the Chase tracks are great for Johnson. Never underestimate Johnson or crew chief Chad Knaus. This title is still Johnson's to lose.

3) Kevin Harvick (3 wins, 11 top-5s, 17 top-10s)
Think Harvick should get something for being the points leader --by a commanding margin, at that -- at the end of the "regular season?" Well, so do I, but his three wins leave Harvick third after the reset. The No. 29 team has been fast and consistent all season, and his win in Michigan last month shows that Harvick is a threat on intermediate tracks -- which make up half the Chase. Don't be surprised if Harvick gives car owner Richard Childress his first Cup Series title since the late Dale Earnhardt won his seventh in 1994.

4) Kyle Busch (3 wins, 8 top-5s, 14 top-10s)
Kyle Busch is a hard one to figure out -- he has the talent to rack up wins and top-5 finishes without so much as a sweat, which makes him a legitimate threat for the title. But Busch is also capable of bad runs and mechanical issues -- which sunk him in 2008. There's been a lot of talk this season of a "new Kyle Busch," one who's calmer in the car and can make the best out of bad days. If Kyle is to win the title, we'll need to see a lot more of the new Kyle than the old one -- and that's no guarantee.

5) Kurt Busch (2 wins, 8 top-5s, 15 top-10s)
The only member of the Busch family to actually have a Sprint Cup Series championship -- he won the inaugural Chase by eight points in 2004 -- Kurt has won both his races this season on 1.5-mile tracks (Atlanta and Charlotte). That bodes well for Kurt, who has bonded well with Kyle Busch's former crew chief Steve Addington. Busch has also run well historically at tracks like New Hampshire and Martinsville. While his relative lack of wins have him in a little bit of a hole, Kurt is very much a title threat.

6) Tony Stewart (1 win, 7 top-5s, 14 top-10s)
Don't let the one win fool you; Stewart is coming on strong at the best possible time. He won Atlanta last weekend in convincing fashion, and Stewart has had his typical strong summer, even without multiple trips to Victory Lane. That win in Atlanta might've been just what the No. 14 team needed after a slow start to the season, and I really consider Stewart one of my darkhorses for the championship -- Kurt Busch being the other. Stewart's the only driver to win a title both before and after the advent of the Chase, and he'll be looking to be the first guy not named Jimmie Johnson to win multiple Chase titles.

7) Greg Biffle (1 win, 5 top-5s, 14 top-10s)
Like Stewart, Biffle has come on strong over the summer, hitting his stride at Indy and Pocono -- where he picked up his only win of the season in August. Roush-Fenway Racing as a whole has found itself after struggling for much of the season, but I don't think the No. 16 team has enough to keep up with Hamlin, Johnson and Harvick. Biffle might repeat his performance in 2008, where he won the first two Chase races, only to fade as the races wore on.

8) Jeff Gordon (0 wins, 10 top-5s, 13 top-10s)
It really seems like Gordon should be higher, doesn't it? Well, he would be with a few wins -- I can think of at least four races this season Gordon should've won, and his lack of wins will be Gordon's downfall. It might be mathematically possible to win the championship without winning a race, the only way the No. 24 team is gonna pick up its fifth championship is if Gordon makes multiple trips to Victory Lane. The way he's finishing races this season, I don't see it.

9) Carl Edwards (0 wins, 6 top-5s, 14 top-10s)
Like Stewart and Roush teammate Biffle, Edwards has really improved in the last several weeks, as the No. 99 team has found much-needed speed and consistency. We've yet to see that patented backflip -- at least in the Cup Series -- and like Gordon, that will be Edwards' downfall. He's starting too far back and I'm not sure he can consistently outrun Hamlin, Johnson and Harvick -- who I consider the co-favorites.

10) Jeff Burton (0 wins, 5 top-5s, 13 top-10s)
Like Gordon, Burton could've won multiple races so far this season. But he hasn't, which also puts the No. 31 behind the proverbial 8-ball. Speed and consistency are also an issue compared to some of the other Chase teams, and I don't really consider Burton a true title threat. He's capable of proving me wrong, but his performance throughout the season has me thinking he'll finish somewhere in the lower half of the top 10.

11) Matt Kenseth (0 wins, 5 top-5s, 10 top-10s)
How is Kenseth even in the Chase? It really doesn't seem like he's run all that well this year, even as teammates Biffle and Edwards are picking up steam heading into the Chase. Kenseth's worked his way through three crew chiefs this season, quietly making laps and apparently compiling enough points to make the Chase, but I really don't see the No. 17 as anything more than an afterthought.

12) Clint Bowyer (0 wins, 4 top-5s, 14 top-10s)
Bowyer gives Richard Childress three teams in the Chase, clinching a spot with a strong sixth-place run in Richmond. Consistency has been a bit of an issue for the No. 33 this year, and Bowyer hasn't had the same speed teammates Harvick and Burton have enjoyed. Bowyer did a nice job getting himself into the Chase, and he's won races before, but I don't see Bowyer as a true threat this year -- unlike 2007, when he finished third behind Johnson and Gordon.

My 2010 Champion: Jimmie Johnson -- he's the favorite and the champion until someone beats him. It's that simple.

Montreal Proving to Be NASCAR Country

2010-08-30T19:35:00.002-04:00

Sure, the Sprint Cup Series had the weekend off, but that didn't mean there wasn't any NASCAR excitement to be had. And I'm not referring to Kyle Busch winning the Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday night.

Because let's face it, Busch winning a Truck race isn't all that noteworthy.

But the Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec more than made up for the lack of drama, as it has every year the series has run on the picturesque road course. A quick primer of the track's NASCAR history:

-In 2007, Robby Gordon was sure he'd won after late-race contact with Marcos Ambrose. But NASCAR black-flagged Gordon, and he ignored the flag, so NASCAR took the win away from him. Kevin Harvick went on to win the first Nationwide Series race held at CGV, and both Harvick and Gordon did celebratory burnouts on the frontstretch.

-The 2008 race marked the first time that one of NASCAR's three national touring series ran in the rain. New tires made the move possible, though attachable windshield wipers and brake lights proved less than effective. Ambrose dominated the race, but a pit road speeding penalty cost him. Canadian Ron Fellows, driving for JR Motorsports, won the rain-shortened event.

-Ambrose again dominated at Montreal in 2009, but he hit the curb in the last corner on the final lap, sailed high heading to the finish line, and Carl Edwards got around him for the win.

The 2010 race was perhaps better than those three combined, though, thanks to the action throughout the day and a classic finish between Boris Said and Max Papis that was the fifth-closest in series history.

Rather than try to explain it, I offer video. It speaks for itself.

Said's win is the first in his Nationwide Series career, but the race begs the larger question of whether the track deserves a larger stage in the world of stock car racing. Stock car action at Montreal isn't unique to the Nationwide Series, either; check out the finish from Sunday's NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race:

So does CGV deserve a Sprint Cup race? Politics aside -- you know neither International Speedway Corp. or Speedway Motorsports, Inc. would give up one of their Cup dates for another track not owned by them -- I say yes. Canada has proven how passionate it is about racing, not just NASCAR, and I say it's time to reward them with a Cup date.

The stands have been packed every time the Nationwide Series has come to Montreal, unlike the races in Mexico City, which saw attendance declines every year until the series stopped running there entirely. Add that to the fact that Canadians often cross the border to watch Cup races -- Michigan International Speedway says 15 percent of its ticket sales go to Canadians, while 10 percent of those who buy tickets to New Hampshire Motor Speedway go to those who live north of the border.

Road course racing is one of the most polarizing aspects of NASCAR, but I love it. It's different, and in recent years, they've been among the most action-packed races on the schedule. The Nationwide Series made its debut at Road America earlier this season, and it was one of the best races of the year.

I think the Cup schedule needs more road courses, including one in the Chase, and I think Montreal -- which also hosts the Canadian Grand Prix for Formula 1 -- would fit in just fine for America's premiere motorsports series.

Regardless of whether Montreal gets that much-deserved Cup race, it has become a staple of the Nationwide Series and one of the series' destination races. The action never fails to disappoint, and the fans embrace the sport better than some of the tracks on this side of the border. That loyalty deserves to be rewarded, and I think NASCAR would do well to put its highest-profile, most talented series on the twists and turns at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

But what do I know? I'm just a fan.

GREAT News for Martinsville

2010-08-26T21:41:00.002-04:00

Martinsville Speedway announced on Thursday that, thanks to a deal between International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and the Virginia Tobacco Commission, the 0.528-mile flat track will host two Sprint Cup Series races annually for the next five years.

The VTC will pony up $1.5 million for facility upgrades, which the speedway will match. As a result, ISC and NASCAR, which are both owned by the France family, will keep the Sprint Cup Series in southeastern Virginia twice a year through at least 2015.

According to the Martinsville (Va.) Bulletin, upgrades to the track will include the creation of a new on/off ramp for race traffic that should help flow before and after the race. The money will also go to upgrading the track's concession and bathroom facilities along the frontstretch (as a fan who's attended the spring race at Martinsville annually since 2002, I can say these are sorely needed upgrades).

The first phase of upgrades will begin at the conclusion of the Sprint Cup race this October, and are scheduled to be completed by the time the series returns for the first Cup race next season on April 3. Track president Clay Campbell said the time between races made operating in phases necessary, and might explain in part the five-year deal.

Obviously, the fact that Martinsville is "safe" for the next five years will excite the local economy and hardcore NASCAR fans alike. Since Rockingham and Darlington lost races in the last decade in favor of larger media markets and tracks that produce arguably dull racing, some fans have feared Martinsville would be next.

Those fans dodged a bullet when ISC awarded Kansas Speedway a second Cup date in 2011 at the expense of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Attendance woes and a general apathy in southern California made ACS a prime candidate for contraction.

Rockingham and Darlington were also targeted because of low fan turnout and facility issues. Fans weren't buying tickets and the tracks were definitely showing their age. I love those two tracks, but the economics made the decision inevitable. Besides, Darlington has thrived with one Cup date, starting its own tradition by running a night race on Mother's Day weekend.

Something tells me Atlanta Motor Speedway (owned by Bruton Smith and his Speedway, Motorsports, Inc. company) will also benefit in the long run by only having one date.

But Martinsville is different; it is the last original NASCAR track, and it is the shortest track on the circuit. When NASCAR comes to Martinsville, it's like a blast from the past. Fans get to see what the sport was like in the early days, before multi-million dollar TV deals and sponsorship packages. There's an authenticity about Martinsville that few other tracks can duplicate, and I'm beyond thrilled that it still has its rightful place in the sport.

Memo to fans and track operators: this is how you keep your dates. Fans park their butts in the seats after buying tickets, and track operators re-invest their profits into making their facilities better. Martinsville has not sold out lately, but few tracks have -- in fact, Martinsville has largely been one of the better-attended tracks, in part because of the quality of racing and the fact that Campbell has lowered ticket prices in response to the economy.

Don't point to the attendance for the race this past March. Since the race was pushed to Monday by weather, the attendance figures would be slightly skewed.

Campbell has poured money into his track over the last several years. He's added seating, installed a new video scoring tower (rivaled only by the behemoth recently erected by Richmond International Raceway) and is now planning to make the experience even easier for the fans over several phases.

As a reward, NASCAR will keep bringing its premiere series twice a year for the next five years. And that's great news for everyone.

2011 Schedules Released

2010-08-24T16:01:00.002-04:00

I know I'm late with this, but you'll have to forgive me. There was so much to talk about coming out of Bristol Motor Speedway this past weekend that just about anything not related to Kyle Busch or Brad Keselowski would've been swept under the proverbial rug.

Still, the release of the 2011 schedules last week was anticipated, given all the changes NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France promised. There are changes, but not as sweeping as one might've expected -- or hoped.

Below are the 2011 schedules for the Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series. Analysis will follow.

2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Schedule

Feb. 18 -- Daytona
Feb. 25 -- Phoenix
March 12 -- Darlington
April 2 -- Martinsville
April 22 -- Nashville
May 13 -- Dover
May 20 -- Charlotte
June 4 -- Kansas
June 10 -- Texas
July 16 -- Iowa
July 22 -- Nashville
July 29 -- ORP
Aug. 6 -- Pocono
Aug. 20 -- Michigan
Aug. 24 -- Bristol
Sept. 2 -- Atlanta
Sept. 16 -- Chicago
Sept. 24 -- Loudon
Oct. 1 -- Kentucky
Oct. 15 -- Las Vegas
Oct. 22 -- Talladega
Oct. 29 -- Martinsville
Nov. 4 -- Texas
Nov. 18 -- Homestead

Not too many surprises or changes to the Camping World Truck Series schedule -- Texas, Nashville and Martinsville are the only tracks the series visits twice -- but two moves that I like: moving Darlington from the heat of the summer to the third race of the season, and letting Pocono return. The trucks' first visit to the Pennsylvania triangle this season was a smashing success, and I'm glad they'll be returning.

The series will not return to Gateway in 2011, as the track has forfeited its Truck and Nationwide Series race dates.

2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Schedule

Feb. 19 -- Daytona
Feb. 26 -- Phoenix
March 5 -- Las Vegas
March 19 -- Bristol
March 26 -- Fontana
April 8 -- Texas
April 16 -- Talladega
April 23 -- Nashville
April 29 -- Richmond
May 6 -- Darlington
May 14 -- Dover
May 22 -- Iowa
May 28 -- Charlotte
June 4 -- Chicago
June 18 -- Michigan
June 25 -- Road America
July 1 -- Daytona
July 8 -- Kentucky
July 16 -- Loudon
July 23 -- Nashville
July 30 -- ORP
Aug. 6 -- Iowa
Aug. 13 -- Watkins Glen
Aug. 20 -- Montreal
Aug. 26 -- Bristol
Sept. 3 -- Atlanta
Sept. 9 -- Richmond
Sept. 17 -- Chicago
Oct. 1 -- Dover
Oct. 8 -- Kansas
Oct. 14 -- Charlotte
Nov. 5 -- Texas
Nov. 12 -- Phoenix
Nov. 19 -- Homestead

A few more changes are apparent in the Nationwide Series schedule, namely the addition of a second race to both Iowa and Chicago. Iowa has seen tremendous fan support in its two Nationwide Series races to date, and it'll be interesting to see how that support holds up with the addition of the second date. Same goes for Chicago, which has been ... lukewarm to NASCAR once the novelty of the track in Joliet, Ill. wore off.

There was talk of moving the race at O'Reilly Raceway Park across town to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; fortunately, that didn't happen. We need as many short tracks as we can get in NASCAR's three national touring series, and ORP offers some of the best action in the relative lull of the summer stretch.

Also of interest to me? Back-to-back road courses in August, as the series goes to Watkins Glen and then Montreal.

2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule

Feb. 12 -- Budweiser Shootout at Daytona
Feb. 17 -- Gatorade Duels at Daytona
Feb. 20 -- Daytona
Feb. 27 -- Phoenix
March 6 -- Las Vegas
March 20 -- Bristol
March 27 -- Fontana
April 3 -- Martinsville
April 9 -- Texas
April 17 -- Talladega
April 30 -- Richmond
May 7 -- Darlington
May 15 -- Dover
May 21 -- Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte
May 29 -- Charlotte
June 5 -- Kansas
June 12 -- Pocono
June 19 -- Michigan
June 26 -- Infineon
July 2 -- Daytona
July 9 -- Kentucky
July 17 -- Loudon
July 31 -- Indianapolis
Aug. 7 -- Pocono
Aug. 14 -- Watkins Glen
Aug. 21 -- Michigan
Aug. 27 -- Bristol
Sept. 4 -- Atlanta
Sept. 10 -- Richmond
***Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup***
Sept. 18 -- Chicago
Sept. 25 -- Loudon
Oct. 2 -- Dover
Oct. 9 -- Kansas
Oct. 15 -- Charlotte
Oct. 23 -- Talladega
Oct. 30 -- Martinsville
Nov. 6 -- Texas
Nov. 13 --Phoenix
Nov. 20 -- Homestead

While there are changes -- Fontana and Atlanta each lose a date, Kentucky gains one, Kansas gains a second date, Chicago is moved from July to the first race in the Chase -- they're not surprising or as impactful as many hoped (see my previous post "If I Ran NASCAR" to see my opinions on the schedule). Still, I think Atlanta only hosting one Cup race will be a good thing in the long run, and I like the first Martinsville race being pushed back a week. It might not seem like much, but it could be huge given the climate in that part of Virginia.

But one thing that bugs me ... going from Bristol to Fontana to Martinsville in back-to-back weeks? I'm guessing whoever organizes the NASCAR schedule doesn't own a map or has never had to drive a transporter cross-country.

Historic Sweep Comes With Controversy

2010-08-23T19:56:00.003-04:00

Well, you know Kyle Busch can't do anything quietly.

Busch completed a historic sweep this past weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to sweep all three national touring series races in one weekend. After taking the Camping World Truck Series O'Reilly 200 on Wednesday, Busch won the Nationwide Series Food City 250 on Friday and dominated the Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday.

But if you think it was all clean and easy ... well, you don't know Busch all that well, do you?

With 32 laps to go on Friday's Nationwide Series race, Busch raced side-by-side with Brad Keselowski. Busch had a run coming off Turn 2, but got loose and slid in front of Keselowski. Keselowski had nowhere to go, clipping the right rear of Busch's car and sending it into the wall. Keselowski went by going into Turn 3, but Busch banged into the back of Keselowski and sent him spinning into the wall.

Busch went on to win the race, much to the chagrin of many of those in attendance. Not that he cared, mocking the fans for their booing before proceeding to admit in a live television interview that he effectively pulled a Carl Edwards.

Don't believe me? Watch:

Keselowski did not retaliate Saturday night -- partly because he's still on probation following his dust-up with Edwards at Gateway -- but he did manage to get off this little shot during driver introductions:

Sadly, the video is censored. For those who can't lip-read, Keselowski called Busch an ass. Over the loudspeaker. In front of roughly 150,000 fans -- the vast majority of whom loved it.

Set aside the issue of Keselowski for a minute ... this is who Kyle Busch is, at least on the race track. To be fair, NASCAR has been in desperate need for flashy personalities for years, particularly following the death of Dale Earnhardt. Busch gives us that -- he's immensely talented, yet his attitude, unique that it is, rubs a lot of fans and competitors the wrong way.

Love him or hate him, Busch is the sort of driver you have to watch, because you never know what you're going to see. He might dominate a race and win going away, or he might put himself in the fence. He might even make a mistake in the car, then turn around and blame someone else and spin him out.

You just never know, which is part of Busch's appeal.

The talent is indisputable -- when Kurt Busch won his only Sprint Cup title in 2004, he warned everyone that he had a younger brother who was even better than him. The attitude is what polarizes everyone (though this Richmond incident in 2008 didn't help matters). Some fans love Busch's style, but most don't.

The reaction to Keselowski's statement on Saturday is all the proof you need.

As for Keselowski ... for someone who has this reputation of being a rough and dirty driver, Keselowski sure is on the receiving end of intentional wrecks a lot. Keselowski is aggressive, sometimes too much so, but that aggression got him to where he is today, and it's a big reason Roger Penske hired him away from Rick Hendrick, even though Hendrick desperately wanted to keep him.

We've mentioned the probation, and there's thought that Keselowski hasn't retaliated yet because of that. It's a valid argument, but I think it goes deeper. Penske, Keselowski's car owner, strikes me as the sort of guy who doesn't tolerate race cars being used as weapons, so maybe he's had a conversation or two with Keselowski about how to handle his incidents with Edwards and now Busch.

But think about this: for all his aggression, Keselowski isn't the type to intentionally dump people (if you throw the Talladega incident in my face, you lose all credibility). Yeah, he'll bump and rub and make contact and put his car in places a lot of other drivers won't. But guess what? That landed him his ride with JR Motorsports. That landed him his first career Sprint Cup Series win at Talladega. That got him his ride with Penske, and it will more than likely land him the Nationwide Series championship this year.

Oh, and it landed him one of NASCAR's most iconic rides, the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, next season.

Maybe that's what has Edwards, Busch and Denny Hamlin all ticked off at Keselowski; he's talented, he's aggressive and most importantly, he beats them. Most importantly, he won't back down. In 2008 and 2009, Keselowski was the only non-Cup driver who regularly raced with and beat the Cup drivers moonlighting in the Nationwide Series.

Trust me, the only way not to make veteran drivers mad at you is if they beat you. Keselowski beats these guys on a semi-regular basis, which upsets their mental sense of hierarchy.

All Keselowski has done is the same thing that he's been doing all along, which is what's allowed him to ascend the ranks of NASCAR. It's entirely conceivable for Keselowski to retire as a Sprint Cup Series champion, and he's not going to let rankled veterans of questionable maturity stand in his way.

And don't mistake Keselowski's reticence to retaliate for letting Busch and others walk all over them. Keselowski will have his revenge, in his own way and on his own terms.

Busch can win all the races and set all the records he wants. He certainly has the talent, and he may one day win the Sprint Cup. But he has a lot of maturing to do before that day comes, and no matter what anyone tells you, Busch is not, and will never be, anything like the late Dale Earnhardt.

If I Ran NASCAR

2010-08-16T20:02:00.007-04:00

I love NASCAR, have since I was a teenager and I watched Jeff Gordon win the inaugural Brickyard 400. I love the smell of burnt rubber and racing fuel, and I still get chills every time the engines fire. I love the competition, I love the speed, I love the action. I always have since that fateful day, and I always will.

It would take an awful lot to get me to abandon this sport. Even given that, I realize the sport is not perfect. There are some things I would like to see done to make the sport more exciting. I would like to see tweaks in the points system, I would like to change up the schedules and I would like to continue tweaking on the race cars.

Below are things I would do if I were the CEO & Chairman of NASCAR.

-The race winner will receive 200 points. The second-place finisher will receive 175 points, and the points awarded will decrease by five for each subsequent position through 30th. Any driver who finishes 31st or worse will not receive points -- in part to cut down on drivers who are involved in a wreck, spend 50 laps in the garage and come back to ride around and get in the way in the interest of a few more points. It would also make it hard for drivers who record DNFs to record points (though prize money will not be affected).

-The 5-point bonus for leading a lap will be done away with (honestly, should a guy who leads one lap all day because he stayed out under caution receive bonus points?). Bonus points will be awarded for: leading the most laps (5), leading at halfway (5), leading 100 laps (5), leading 200 laps (5) and winning the pole (10).

EXAMPLE: Jimmie Johnson wins the pole at Dover, giving him 10 bonus points. He goes on to lead the most laps -- 274 -- en route to winning the race, though he does not lead at halfway. Johnson will get 5 points for leading the most laps, 5 points for leading 100 laps and 5 points for leading 200 laps, giving him 15 more bonus points. For the weekend, Johnson gets 25 bonus points, on top of the 200 points he gets for winning the race. Johnson's efforts net him 225 total points.

-Ideally, these changes to the points system will reward both winning and consistency. Not awarding points to drivers who finish 31st or worse helps reward consistency, while the 25-point difference between first and second place accentuates the value of winning. Bonus points for lap-leading and pole-winning serve as further incentives for drivers to go all-out through the entire weekend.

-The Top 35 qualifying rule in the Sprint Cup Series (Top 30 for the Nationwide Series) will be eliminated; in both series, the 36 fastest times will qualify, and there will be six slots for provisionals. Every team will receive five provisionals for the season, and the past champions' provisional will be available on an unlimited basis for the most recent champion who does not qualify. In the Camping World Truck Series, the top 35 speeds will qualify, with the 36th spot going to the past champions' provisional. If the provisional is not needed, the top 36 speeds will qualify.

-With the Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang establishing a presence in the Nationwide Series, NASCAR will require GM and Chevrolet to find a way to bring the Chevrolet Camaro into the series to replace the Impala. The Nationwide Series will become a pony car series, and the Impala is not a race car (hell, my grandparents have one). Neither is the Toyota Camry; if Toyota wants to continue competing in the Nationwide Series, it will have to introduce a pony car that will be built on American soil and made available to the public.

-Pony cars will eventually be introduced to the Sprint Cup Series as well, because American motorsports are based on the thrill of speed and exhilaration -- and let's face it, the Impala, Camry and Fusion do not inspire such feelings. The Sprint Cup Series car will also see a series of design changes, including a re-design of the front splitter. The new design will remove the splitter braces and curve the edges of the splitter, so they can't cut down tires. The re-designs will also look to blend the safety features of the current-generation car with the aesthetics of the last generation -- while also re-introducing brand identity to the manufacturers.

-The vehicles in the Camping World Truck Series will remain largely unchanged, though it will also see a new design to the front splitter. Much like the Sprint Cup Series car, the Camping World Trucks will remove the splitter braces and see a more rounded edge to the splitters.

-I don't necessarily hate the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but I will do away with it. All three series will run the length of their respective schedules, and the driver who has the most points at the end of the season will be the champion. However, full-time Sprint Cup drivers who run Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series races will not receive points in those series.

-The Nationwide Series will have more standalone races in an attempt to take the series focus away from moonlighting Sprint Cup drivers and put it back on the young up-and-comers an driver development. Full-time Sprint Cup drivers who are in the top 35 in Sprint Cup points will be allowed to run no more than 14 Nationwide Series races in a season -- half the schedule. This limitation will also apply to Sprint Cup drivers in the Camping World Truck Series.

-Both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series schedules will be cut; the Sprint Cup schedule will be reduced from 36 points-paying races to 30, with both exhibition races remaining in place. The Nationwide Series schedule will be reduced from 35 races to 28. This will be accomplished in part by taking away dates from tracks with two dates, as well as awarding races to tracks not currently on the schedule. The Camping World Truck Series schedule will remain 25 races.

-Below are the three national touring schedules I would propose. It will be listed in Sprint Cup/Nationwide/Camping World Truck Series format, with OFF denoting an off weekend for the series. NOTE: I realize I listed tracks that NASCAR no longer runs in, but seeing as how this is entirely hypothetical, I went with it.

Budweiser Shootout at Daytona (exhibition race)/OFF/OFF
Daytona/Daytona/Daytona
Las Vegas/Atlanta/Rockingham
Phoenix/Phoenix/Phoenix
Texas/Nashville/Atlanta
Martinsville/Texas/Martinsville
Bristol/Bristol/OFF
Darlington/Darlington/Nashville
Talladega/Rockingham/Dover
OFF/OFF/OFF
Richmond/Richmond/Kansas
Sprint All-Star Challenge at Charlotte (exhibition race)/OFF/Texas
Charlotte/Charlotte/Kentucky
Dover/Dover/OFF
Pocono/Milwaukee Mile/Michigan
New Hampshire/New Hampshire/OFF
Daytona/OFF/OFF
Michigan/Road America/Iowa
Kentucky/Iowa/ORP
Infineon/OFF/Chicagoland
Indianapolis/ORP/New Hampshire
OFF/OFF/OFF
Iowa/Michigan/OFF
Watkins Glen/Watkins Glen/Watkins Glen
Michigan/Kentucky/OFF
Bristol/Homestead/Bristol
Atlanta/Irwindale/Irwindale
Darlington/Gateway/Las Vegas
Richmond/Richmond/Richmond
Martinsville/Martinsville/Martinsville
Talladega/Talladega/Talladega
Kansas/Kansas/Gateway
Phoenix/Nashville/North Wilkesboro
Charlotte/Charlotte/Charlotte

So there you have it, my ideas for "fixing" NASCAR. I'm sure some of you will love all these ideas, while others will likely hate everything I've written above. But please, feel free to leave your comments below.

Good Weekend for Point Leaders

2010-08-16T19:34:00.003-04:00

This past weekend in NASCAR was a good one for the guys atop their respective point standings in the three national touring series -- it marked just the sixth time in history that all three point leaders won races in their respective divisions in the same season -- since 1995, when the Camping World Truck Series came into being.

Todd Bodine, who holds a 231-point lead over Aric Almirola in the Camping World Truck Series, took the Too Tough To Tame 200 at Darlington Raceway on Saturday night for his third win of the season.

Brad Keselowski defended his 2009 Nationwide Series win at Michigan International Speedway, taking the Carfax 250 in dominant fashion for his fourth win of the year -- extending his points lead over Carl Edwards to 347 points in the process. His worst finish of the season is 21st, when Keselowski ran out of fuel late in Chicagoland.

And of course, Kevin Harvick took the Carfax 400 at Michigan on Sunday for his third win of the season. Harvick, who now has 30 bonus points for when the Chase for the Sprint Cup starts, holds a 293-point lead over Jeff Gordon.

This is the latest in a season that all three point leaders have won in the same weekend.

All three drivers showed this past weekend why they're the points leaders in their respective series. Bodine has been consistent throughout the season, recording 12 top-10s and 11 top-5s in 15 starts, while Keselowski is close to giving car owner Roger Penske his first NASCAR championship thanks to four wins, 17 top-5s and 20 top-10s in 23 starts.

Harvick has been by far the most impressive of the bunch, given how he struggled in 2009. In 23 starts this season, Harvick has 11 top-5s and 16 top-10s.

Harvick's win at Michigan was his first at a non-restrictor plate track since Phoenix in 2006, and Harvick served notice that he will be a title threat come Chase time, even if others want to make Denny Hamlin or four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson the favorite.

Bodine and Keselowski are likely to win their titles going away, barring something out of the ordinary, and Harvick would be cruising to his first title as well were it not for the Chase. But that doesn't make what this trio has accomplished -- both throughout the season and this past weekend -- any less impressive.

Changes to 2011 Chase Coming

2010-08-06T14:59:00.004-04:00

SPEED.com reported on Friday that Auto Club Speedway (sometimes referred to as Fontana) will lose one of its Sprint Cup Series dates for the 2011 season. This is not surprising; there's been speculation throughout the season that Fontana would lose a date -- probably in order to give Kansas Speedway a second date -- but it was widely assumed Fontana would lose its February date, not its Chase race.

But according to SPEED's report, Fontana will not be part of the 2011 Chase. Which begs the question ... who gets Fontana's second date? With some arranging, it's still possible that Kansas gets that date, but it won't be a straight swap, because Kansas is already in the Chase.

The network has also reported this week that the 2011 Chase will begin at Chicagoland Speedway, not New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which has opened the Chase every year since its 2004 inception. Instead, New Hampshire will become the second Chase race, and it's widely believed that Fontana losing its Chase race spares Dover's Chase date.

Without any other knowledge at this point, there's no telling what next season's Cup schedule will look like. That Atlanta Motor Speedway is losing a date to Kentucky Motor Speedway is not unexpected, nor is the fact that Fontana is losing a date. NASCAR CEO Brian France promised before the Brickyard 400 a couple weeks back that changes were coming to both the Chase and the schedule, but right now almost everything is speculation.

Sources tell SPEED that the 2011 Cup schedule will be released on Aug. 18.

Though SPEED's Thursday report mentioned the possibility of Martinsville Speedway losing a race (which will surely infuriate traditional fans, much like losing Rockingham and one of Darlington's dates did), there hasn't been a whole lot of rumbling about that move. Almost all the speculation this season has focused on Fontana, and rightly so -- from a racing standpoint, the track is stale, and the pathetic attendance figures have made a move almost inevitable.

Meanwhile, Martinsville has held strong from an attendance standpoint, despite its smaller grandstands and the fact that almost every track is seeing empty seats these days. If I had to guess I'd say Martinsville keeps both of its dates in 2011.

Frankly, I'm glad Fontana is losing a date -- if I had my way, we wouldn't go there at all. I understand NASCAR wants to court the southern California market, but it's clear they don't care for it. Unless you were to move the race to nearby Irwindale Speedway, which wouldn't be a bad move.

The 2011 Sprint Cup schedule will look a lot different than in recent years -- but that might not be such a bad thing.

Report: Atlanta to Lose Cup Race

2010-08-05T16:33:00.002-04:00

According to sources, Atlanta Motor Speedway will only have one Sprint Cup race as of 2011 -- its Labor Day race that serves as the second-to-last race before the Chase. Word has it that Bruton Smith, who owns Atlanta as part of his Speedway Motorsports, Inc. company, plans to take one of Atlanta's dates and give it to the recently-purchased Kentucky Speedway.

Nothing is official, and NASCAR isn't expected to release the 2011 schedule until next month, but the report isn't entirely unexpected; Smith made it clear the moment he bought Kentucky that he wanted to bring a Cup race to the track, and Atlanta has suffered attendance woes for years -- even before the recession hit.

Rows upon rows of seats near the start-finish line have been empty for several years at Atlanta. It's one thing for a track to not sell seats in Turn 3 or Turn 4, but on the frontstretch, near the start-finish line?

That looks good for no one.

Expect some NASCAR traditionalists to criticize the move and decry the sport further distancing itself from its southern roots, but the truth is more complicated. Much like the decision to leave Rockingham and take away Darlington's fall date, the move to take a race away from Atlanta amounts to ticket sales. Atlanta has struggled to sell seats for years -- like Rockingham and Darlington before it -- and the move was needed.

Attendance is down almost everywhere, that's true. But Atlanta's troubles pre-date the recession, much like Fontana's. Expect an announcement soon that Auto Club Speedway will lose one of its dates, likely going to Kansas Speedway -- a track that does not have horrible attendance problems.

Atlanta is a great track, one that has a lot of history in NASCAR. It's also considered the sport's fastest, and the racing is often pretty solid. But the ample number of empty seats proved to be the track's undoing, and in Kentucky, the Cup Series is getting a track that enjoys a good amount of support; fans have welcomed the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series and the IndyCar Series to Kentucky with open arms.

So why wouldn't they do the same for a Cup race?

Darlington had rebounded nicely since being reduced to only having one race a season. Ticket sales have been up, the Southern 500 returned and that stop on the schedule has become a crown jewel again. Other tracks have thrived on the Cup Series schedule with just one date, so there's no reason Atlanta can't do the same -- especially since it will likely keep its Labor Day slot.

But the fact remains: had Atlanta's attendance been better the past decade, it wouldn't be losing a race.

Sadler's Wreck Highlights Problems

2010-08-03T14:23:00.003-04:00

NASCAR had made tremendous strides in safety since 2001, when Dale Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash in the Daytona 500. Tracks have upgraded safety features such as energy-absorbing walls, while drivers find themselves in safer cars with safer custom-built seats and head-and-neck restraints that have undoubtedly averted the tragic consequences of many a horrific crash.

Say what you want about the current generation car in the Sprint Cup Series, it's incredibly safe. In fact, it might be the only reason Elliott Sadler is still with us after the hit he took Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

ESPN didn't get a really good look at the wreck, but here's video of what the network did catch:

That Sadler walked away from the wreck, even though the engine came clear out of the car, is a testament to the safety of the car and the HANS device. The crush panels in front of the car absorbed much of the energy that would've gone to Sadler otherwise, and the six-point harness and HANS device kept Sadler largely in place even as his car bounced off the guardrail and spun back onto the track.

However, the lack of safety upgrades at Pocono was made glaringly evident for the second straight race. Kasey Kahne nearly spun over the fence along the Long Pond straightaway in the June race, resulting in a call for Pocono to install catchfencing along the outside wall -- even though there are no grandstands back there.

After Sadler's wreck, there's calling for SAFER barriers to be installed along the inside of that straightaway and for the grass to be paved over. I agree that these changes need to be made, and NASCAR must make sure they happen.

The track has already promised these changes would be made in time for next season's races, but if I'm NASCAR, I take it a step further than that. If I'm Brian France, I tell track officials that if these changes are not made, the Sprint Cup Series (and the Camping World Truck Series, which made its debut at the track on Saturday) will not be back.

Simple as that. Make the necessary safety changes, or the show stops. NASCAR cannot allow its greatest asset -- its drivers -- be put needlessly in harm's way like that. Why have all these safety innovations and not use them?

Pocono has also talked of bringing the IndyCar Series back to the track. Can you imagine an IndyCar having the same impact Sadler did on Sunday? In that instance, we're not talking about a guy who walked away. We're talking about a guy being sent to the morgue.

Motorsports are dangerous; the only way to 100 percent guarantee safety is to not run these races at all. But NASCAR has done a great job of making things safer since Earnhardt's death. Tracks have also improved safety; after Jeff Gordon hit the inside wall hard at Las Vegas in 2008, the track changed the wall configuration.

Pocono needs to do the same. Add the catchfence, add the SAFER barriers. If the track cannot do this, then it doesn't deserve to host NASCAR races.

At all.

NASCAR Punished Edwards ... and Keselowski?

2010-07-21T21:42:00.003-04:00

NASCAR announced on Wednesday that it would punish Carl Edwards for his last-lap incident with Brad Keselowski during Saturday night's Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway ... and no, it's not three weeks of probation.

Edwards will be on probation again -- this time until Dec. 31 -- but NASCAR also docked him 60 driver points, fined him $25,000 and docked car owner Jack Roush 60 points in the owners' championship.

Keselowski was also placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Despite the sanctioning body's "Boys have at it" philosophy heading into the season -- which resulted in Edwards receiving just three weeks' probation after the incident at Atlanta -- NASCAR had to react in this instance. NASCAR had to draw a line, because Edwards' actions clearly went farther than the intention behind NASCAR's loosening of the proverbial reigns.

This was the second time this season that Edwards intentionally dumped Keselowski at a high-speed area of the track, then boasted about it afterward. Both times, Edwards placed others in potential danger; at Atlanta, fans were at risk when Keselowski's car went airborne, and at Gateway, the wreck eventually collected several other drivers before its conclusion.

There was some call for Edwards to be parked a week -- much like Kevin Harvick was for a Cup race in Martinsville in 2002 -- but that would've left NASCAR in an uncomfortable position given the "Boys have at it" edict handed down in January. It was the same reason Edwards' punishment for the Atlanta wreck was so light; how could NASCAR tell the drivers to police themselves, only to step in and drop the hammer when a driver did just that?

But there's "Boys have at it," and there's what Edwards did.

The points penalty is appropriate, because it essentially returns the points to how they would've stood had the wreck not occurred. Keselowski led the most laps, giving him 10 bonus points, so if he had won the race, he would've banked 195 points. His 14th-place finish netted Keselowski 131 point -- a difference of 64 points.

So Edwards gets to keep the win, and the trophy, but he loses virtually all of the points he made up in the championship. While some of the hardier Keselowski fans and everyone else offended by Edwards' move might've liked a harsher penalty, I find the deduction of points appropriate and fair.

But what of Keselowski? Aside from the rubbing in Turn 1, he's done nothing wrong in this instance -- even the Atlanta incident that led Edwards to intentionally wreck him the first time was really Edwards' fault. NASCAR's official stance is that it placed Keselowski on probation because he has a history with Edwards, but I think it's something else entirely.

Putting Keselowski on probation was more of a preventative measure than a punitive one. Probation, nebulous as it is, spans across all three of NASCAR's national touring series -- Camping World Trucks, Nationwide and Sprint Cup -- and any action in one series can affect a driver's standing in another. When Harvick was parked for the Martinsville Cup race in 2002, it was for a wreck he deliberately caused in a truck race.

Keselowski, 26th in Cup points, has nothing to lose on that side, while Edwards is fighting for a spot in the Chase. But Keselowski is the Nationwide Series points leader, so if Keselowski paid back Edwards in a Cup race, NASCAR could theoretically penalize him in the Nationwide Series. To me, putting Keselowski on probation is NASCAR's way of trying to prevent Keselowski from seeking payback.

Of course, there's nothing saying Keselowski can't dish out payback next season. Immediate payback is extremely rare in NASCAR.

NASCAR also sent a message to other drivers, many of whom have wondered just how far "Boys have at it" goes. Now those drivers know; NASCAR will embrace rubbing, bump-and-runs and spinouts in the turns. The sanctioning body probably even relishes in the post-race war of words that drivers sometimes get into (looking at you, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick).

But what this sport can't have is one driver intentionally wrecking another and putting others in danger in the process. Today's cars and tracks are safer than ever before, but there is no such thing as a guarantee when it comes to safety in racing. If a driver gets payback so aggressively, and his victim dies -- or kills someone else in the process -- what's NASCAR to do?

We can debate the severity of the penalty, but NASCAR had to issue one. There was no way around this.

Edwards-Keselowski, Round ... I've Lost Count

2010-07-19T15:01:00.003-04:00

When NASCAR placed Carl Edwards on three races' probation after his late-race incident with Brad Keselowski in the Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta, everyone assumed whatever beef the two drivers had with each other was over.

But after the end of Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway, in which Edwards turned Keselowski head-on into the fence on the frontstretch coming to the checkered flag, the rivalry has begun anew. Keselowski, the series point leader, had the dominant car, though Edwards was strong and held the high line on the green-white checkered restart.

That high line gave Edwards the lead, and heading into Turn 1 on the final lap, Keselowski tapped Edwards in the left rear. Edwards broke loose, but gathered his car and actually held the lead going down the backstretch. Keselowski grabbed the advantage in turns 3 and 4, only to have Edwards hook into Keselowski's right rear and send him into the wall.

Keselowski slammed the outside wall head-on, before coming down and hitting head-on into the inside wall. As his car came to stop, Shelby Howard plowed into the front of Keselowski's car, spinning him around and pushing him across the finish line.

Keselowski was unhurt, and Edwards went on to win his second Nationwide race of the season.

Much like the Atlanta incident, Edwards didn't shy away from taking the blame.

"I just couldn't let him take the win from me," Edwards said. "We came to win. He took it from us there in Turn 1. And, man, I just couldn't let him take it from us. I had to do what I had to do.

"The deal is he'll eventually learn he can't run into my car over and over and put me in bad situations. In every situation, there is an aggressor and there is someone who reacts. I was not the aggressor in this situation."

Never mind the fact that Keselowski led the most laps, by far, and that nothing is given to anyone on the last lap of the race. Keselowski's move heading into Turn 1 was a typical move in stock car racing: get into the guy's quaterpanel, move him out of the way and make the pass.

Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson demonstrated the maneuver perfectly in the closing laps of the Cup race at Loudon, N.H. The below video perfectly displays NASCAR's new "Boys, have at it" meme:

Notice how almost every time Edwards and Keselowski have an incident, the contact is Edwards' fault. Dating back to the April 2009 Sprint Cup race at Talladega, where contact sent Edwards into the catchfence and injured seven fans. Edwards came down in an attempt to block Keselowski, who was holding his ground on the yellow line. Coming to the checkers, Keselowski wasn't about to lift, and he couldn't dive below the yellow line, lest NASCAR penalize him the way it did Regan Smith in 2008.

Then there's the incident at Atlanta. Edwards was retaliating for an incident that occurred in Turn 1 much earlier in the race, where Keselowski was on the inside. Keselowski and Edwards made contact, sending Edwards up the track and into Joey Logano. Replays showed -- and Edwards confirmed in his first interview -- that he initiated the contact by coming down on Keselowski.

Fast-forward to the end of Saturday night's race, and ... yeah.

The only incident between the two that Edwards has any legitimate beef over is one last season during a Nationwide race in Memphis, where Keselowski dumped Edwards on the backstretch. But let's be serious here: if Edwards is still dishing out payback for that incident, we might have some insight as to why Edwards hasn't won a Cup race since 2008. He might need anger management and a deeper examination of priorities.

Edwards' actions behind the wheel, and his cavalier attitude of "Yeah, I did it, so what?" is doing him little favors in terms of his image and his fan base. There are those who see nothing wrong with what Edwards has done, calling it "Boys, have at it" -- and argument bolstered by the fact that NASCAR only gave Edwards three weeks' probation after the Atlanta incident.

If you know what probation means in NASCAR, by all means, tell me.

But Edwards has proven, yet again, how dangerous he can on the track. Not just to Keselowski, either; in the aftermath of Saturday's incident, at least 10 other cars suffered considerable damage. What if something had happened to them. Edwards likes to say he doesn't mean for his payback to get so messy, but it always does.

He has to be held responsible for that.

But also consider:

-The Big One that marred the October 2008 Cup race at Talladega, taking out almost all the Chase contenders, started because Edwards tried to bump-draft teammate Greg Biffle into Turn 3. Kevin Harvick was among those expressing their displeasure at Edwards.

-Edwards also caused the wreck that sent Dale Earnhardt Jr. upside down at the Nationwide race at Daytona this past February. Edwards got into -- guess who -- Keselowski, sending him into Junior's car.

-After Dale Earnhardt Jr. won a Nationwide Series race at Michigan in 2006, Edwards chose to express his displeasure by ramming into the side of Junior's car on the cool-down lap, almost taking off Junior's hand. Edwards then confronted Junior in Victory Lane, something I don't remember seeing in all my years of watching NASCAR.

-Remember Edwards' divebomb move at the end of the 2008 race at Kansas? You know, where he drove deep into Turn 3 and passed leader Jimmie Johnson before drifting up into the wall and finishing second? Yeah, it looked cool and all, but what if Edwards misjudges, and he collects Johnson on the way to the wall?

-Edwards almost got into a fight with teammate (yes, teammate!) Matt Kenseth after a race at Martinsville. When you're balling up fists at your teammates, you've got issues.

-Edwards even dumped Keselowski's Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch at the end of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona two weeks back. Apparently, Edwards has a big problem with Penske ... just don't ask me what.

Edwards has worked hard to present himself as a nice, aw-shucks kind of guy that NASCAR fans can look up to every Sunday, but his actions behind the wheel -- which at times smack of desperation and frustration -- seem to point to something else. Some will jokingly refer to this as "roid rage," given Edwards' chiseled physique, and it might well be, but I really don't know.

All I know is, Edwards keeps punching the karma button, and it's only a matter of time before karma visits him to collect payment. It might come in the form of contact with Keselowski, or someone else might decide to take matters into their own hands. But if Edwards isn't careful -- and examining the evidence above, since when has he been careful? -- things are going to go very wrong, very fast.

Like Keselowski said Saturday night, wrecking on the straightaway is never cool, whether you're going 200 or 120 MPH.

No. 3 Wins Again

2010-07-13T14:46:00.002-04:00

When Austin Dillon picked up his first career Camping World Truck Series win on Sunday in the Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway, he gave truck owner and grandfather Richard Childress yet another win for the No. 3.

It was the second time in as many weeks that number found Victory Lane in one of NASCAR's three national series; on July 2, Dale Earnhardt Jr. piloted a special No. 3 blue and yellow Wrangler paint scheme to victory in the Nationwide Series race at Daytona. Junior was adamant afterward that he would never run the number his late father made famous again, but Dillon runs the number full-time in the Truck Series.

Not only that, but Dillon runs the black No. 3.

His truck isn't sponsored by GM Goodwrench -- that honor goes to Bass Pro Shops, which means a little camouflage is mixed in with the trademark black -- but to see a black No. 3 back on the track in one of the national touring series has to be a big deal. Dillon understands the importance of the number, but he seems to enjoy running the number.

Dillon is seventh in points after 10 races, having won three straight poles. In picking up that first win on Sunday in Iowa, Dillon led 187 of 205 laps. He may not have intimidated the field, but Dillon certainly dominated it.

Dillon has run the No. 3 throughout his career, and assuming he makes it all the way to the Sprint Cup Series -- and also assuming he keeps driving for Childress -- there is some question, and debate, as to whether he should bring the number with him. NASCAR does not retire numbers; ultimately, the fate of the No. 3 rests with Childress, who still owns the number.

The number has not been in the Cup Series since Earnhardt Sr. died in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. Since, the Intimidator's car has sported the No. 29 with Kevin Harvick behind the wheel, and it's seen a litany of paint schemes. White, black and silver, now red and yellow ... Childress has been careful not to bring the paint scheme or the number back to the series.

Emotionally, it's easy to say that Childress should never run that number in the Cup Series again. Running a No. 3 in either the Truck Series or Nationwide Series is seen as okay, because they are lower-level series and it can be seen as an appropriate tribute to a NASCAR legend.

A lot of people would love to see the black No. 3 back in the Cup Series -- some want Junior to drive it (as if he doesn't have enough pressure to deal with), while a lot of other fans would just as soon never see that car again. Either it's too painful to see that car with another driver in it, or fans think it wouldn't be appropriate.

Other legends have driven the No. 3 before Senior -- Junior Johnson and David Pearson among them -- but to many NASCAR fans, that number will always be synonymous with the late Dale Earnhardt. And I'm fine with that.

Honestly, I like Dillon. He seems like a good kid, he's obviously got a wealth of driving ability and he doesn't seem burdened by the legacy painted onto the side of his car. It helps that he doesn't share the Earnhardt name, and that he was in middle school when Senior died, but Dillon genuinely seems to enjoy running that number.

So as far as I'm concerned, Childress should let Dillon run that number as long as he wants. If that means bringing it back to the Cup Series in a couple years, then so be it. Who know? Dillon might be able to make it his own, just like Senior did.

Junior Gets Emotional Win; Is He Back?

2010-07-09T14:06:00.002-04:00

I realize I'm a little late with this -- talking about Daytona when we're already at Chicagoland for this weekend's races -- but the story here has been big enough that it still warrants discussion.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeño 250 last Friday night at Daytona International Speedway. Anytime Junior wins a race -- he hadn't done that since Michigan in 2008 -- it's a big deal, but the win at Daytona was large because of the car Junior was driving: a replica of the Wrangler Jeans No. 3 his father made famous in the 1980s.

That's right, thanks to a deal coming together in part between JR Motorsports, Richard Childress and Teresa Earnhardt, Junior paid homage to his late father and celebrated his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

And he took the car to Victory Lane.

It's impossible to overstate how much it means to NASCAR and its fans to see the No. 3 back in Victory Lane -- especially at Daytona. The sport just hasn't been the same since Junior's father was killed in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500, and any time we can relive Senior's glory -- and watch his favorite son win in the process -- it's a cause for celebration.

Not only that, but it was the latest bit of good news for Junior. After a disastrous May, Junior has four straight finishes of 11th or better in the Sprint Cup Series; after finishing seventh in Michigan, he salvaged 11th at Infineon, finished eighth at New Hampshire, and on Saturday, he dodged all the wrecks to finish fourth in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona.

Junior wasn't happy about that finish, saying his car was terrible all night and they lucked into that finish. But seeing as how Junior is 11th in points and in Chase contention, it's probably something he should happily take into Chicagoland and look for another good run.

Junior won at Chicagoland in 2005.

The No. 88 team probably isn't where it needs to be right now for Junior to win races and be a true title contender, but if the last month is any indication, he's getting his confidence back, and after a disastrous 2009, maybe simply running well and making the Chase -- and yes, getting some luck along the way -- is what Junior needs.

NASCAR benefits when Junior is running well -- as the sport's Most Popular Driver, that just makes sense. If Junior can keep doing what he's doing of late, and qualify for the Chase, that gives him and the rest of the team momentum and confidence heading into the 2011 season.

For a sport struggling with television ratings and on-track attendance, a successful Junior would be good news for everyone.

What's Wrong With Junior?

2010-05-17T15:38:00.002-04:00

In a lot of ways, it seems like just yesterday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one of NASCAR's brightest stars, combining that rare quality of near-universal fan appeal with a cocky attitude behind the wheel that kept putting him in Victory Lane.

In a lot of ways, though, it seems like a lifetime ago, but given the frequency with which Junior was winning races in the early 2000s, it seemed inevitable that the son of legend would one day hoist the Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup, right?

Well, as he head to the quarter-mark of the 2010 season ... not so much.

Junior has 18 Sprint Cup wins, but none since 2008. He also has a Daytona 500 trophy, but that came all the way back in 2004. He won six races that season and finished fifth in the points. Junior finished a career-high third in the point standings in 2003.

Let's not forget those back-to-back Nationwide Series titles in 1998 and 1999, or the fact that Junior won his first Cup race in Texas in 2000, in just his 11th career start.

So the talent's always been there, but since 2004, Junior has been, at best, inconsistent. Since the start of the 2005 season, Junior has only won three races -- one in 2005, one in 2006 and a fuel-mileage win in 2008. He missed the Chase for the Cup in 2005, 2007 and 2009.

So what is it? Was it being separated from longtime crew chief Tony Eury Sr., with whom Junior won 15 of his 18 career races? It's possible, but Junior has yet to find the answer with current crew chief Lance McGrew, even though many figured that would happen coming into the season. Junior started 2010 off well enough, finishing second in the Daytona 500 and spending much of the early part of the season in the top 12 of the point standings, but back-to-back poor finishes at Darlington and Dover leave one wondering.

How does someone who clearly has the talent, who was once so close to becoming the toast of NASCAR, struggle so mightily? Especially when driving for a car owner who's won nine of the last 15 Cup titles in Rick Hendrick?

Personally, it's not a lack of talent. It's a lack of focus and passion. On top of being a Sprint Cup driver, Junior co-owns a Nationwide Series team, JR Motorsports, and owns a Charlotte-area bar. Life as NASCAR's Most Popular Driver has opened a lot of doors for Junior, doors that might be affecting his focus.

Perhaps he's even a little tentative; while practicing for a Grand Am race on a NASCAR off-weekend at Sonoma in 2004, Junior suffered a horrific crash where his car burst into flames. Though safety crews pulled him to safety, Junior suffered significant burns -- burns that forced Junior to get out of the car the following week at New Hampshire.

Even though Junior won six races and finished fifth in the standings that year, the numbers have declined since. Could that crash be the cause? Junior would never admit as much, but sometimes I wonder.

Junior has done a lot for the sport -- just ask Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski, both of whom got their starts because of him -- and it's not like Junior simply walked into a ride without proving himself first. But while Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are making their mark in the sport -- and Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Kasey Kahne all running well -- why isn't Junior?

We know the talent's there; we've seen it. I don't think this is a case of the No. 88 team needing another shake-up. Changing crew chiefs or swapping crew members won't help. Switching from the wing to the spoiler didn't help. Maybe it's time to look at the driver when examining what's wrong with the No. 88, and see if there's anything that can be done to improve his performance.

If that doesn't happen, Junior might just become this generation's Kyle Petty -- son of a NASCAR legend who had so much potential, but ultimately became a so-so driver who made his name in other ways.

Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but something tells me Junior Nation would rather see their driver living it up in Victory Lane and turning that hat backwards again.

NASCAR to Bring Back Spoiler; Other Changes Imminent

2010-01-18T16:18:00.009-05:00

This time last year, NASCAR was adamant that it would make no changes to the current Cup car -- formerly known as the Car of Tomorrow -- despite the perception that the car was unsightly and resulted in poor racing. The sanctioning body was thus criticized -- to an extent, rightfully so -- for not listening to its shrinking fanbase.

Somewhere along the way, though, things changed. NASCAR implemented the double-file restart midway through the season, spicing up races that were usually as flavorful as a slice of old-style Domino's pizza. NASCAR even held a town hall meeting with drivers and teams, where ideas to improve competition were discussed.

Now comes word that, at some point this season, NASCAR will replace the rear wing on the current Cup car and replace it with a spoiler -- similar to what was on the last generation car model. Timetables aren't definite right now -- some approximations have the spoiler making its return in Martinsville at the end of March, others at Bristol.

NASCAR will test the spoiler March 23-24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

For reference, here is the current Cup car with the rear wing:

And the old model, with spoiler:

Sprint Cup Series director Jon Darby informed teams of the change on Friday in an internal memo, saying the spoiler will replicate the downforce and balance that is being produced on the current car. Some speculate the spoiler would do a better job of keeping cars on the ground than the rear wing -- which is blamed to a degree for the horrific crash involving Carl Edwards last April at Talladega.

You know, this one:

To be honest, I'm not sure how the spoiler will affect things; if I'm NASCAR, I also take a hard look at the bump stops and the front splitter. There are logistics to consider with the re-introduction of the spoiler -- which is why the change isn't being made in time for the Daytona 500. Chances are, any changes resulting from this change won't be immediate, but I think it is a good first step in the right direction.

Not just because the on-track product might be better -- NASCAR is also considering relaxing bump-drafting rules at Daytona and Talladega, as well as a thorough examination of the yellow-line rule -- but because the sanctioning body is listening the competitors and the fans. In the span of a year, NASCAR has gone from tone-deaf to willing to tweak things here and there in an effort to spice up races.

Maybe it was the low TV ratings, maybe it was the dip in attendance. Maybe it was the fact that Jimmie Johnson has turned the Chase into a mockery with his dominance to the tune of four straight series titles. Whatever the reason, NASCAR is listening, and I think the sport will be better off for it, in 2010 and beyond.

I can't wait for Daytona.

2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Year in Review

2010-01-12T14:40:00.002-05:00

Kyle Busch cruised to his first NASCAR national touring series championship in 2009, winning the Nationwide Series title by 210 points over 2007 series champion Carl Edwards. Busch won a series-high nine races to go along with 25 top-5s and 30 top-10s -- an average finish of 6.4.

Busch finished second 11 times on the season -- which might've annoyed him, but certainly helped propel the Las Vegas native to the championship in a year that saw his Sprint Cup operation stumble and miss the Chase.

Busch took the points lead after the first Phoenix race, where he finished 10th. He finished outside the Top 10 just four times after taking the points lead, logging seven of his nine wins and 10 of his second-place finishes in that span. Try as he might, Edwards -- who won five races to go along with 23 top-5s and 30 top-10s -- simply couldn't catch up.

Busch won his first race of the season at Fontana in February, and when he took the checkered flag at Nashville in June, it kicked off a streak in which Busch finished first or second in 10 straight races.

Full-time Cup Series drivers won 30 of the 35 races on the schedule last season; Nationwide Series regulars who weren't also full-time Cup drivers didn't reach Victory Lane until Mike Bliss won a rain-shortened race at Charlotte back in May. Brad Keselowski, driving for Hendrick Motorsports-affiliated JR Motorsports, won the other four races en route to logging 22 Top-5s and 28 Top-10s, finishing third in the season standings for the second straight year.

Keselowski might've been more of a factor in the title race had it not been for early-season disappointments. He opened the season with finishes of 22nd, 27th, 27th and 12th, falling victim to incidents not of his doing before finally logging his first top-5 -- a third-place finish at Texas. Keselowski then went through a stretch where his worst finish was 11th (Darlington) and he picked up his first win of the season at Dover.

After finishing 18th at Chicago, Keselowski finished in the top 10 the rest of the way -- until he finished 12th in the season finale at Homestead-Miami. Along the way, Keselowski also won the inaugural race at Iowa, before taking checkered flags at Michigan and Memphis.

Bliss went on to finish fifth in the point standings, despite losing his full-time ride with James Finch during the season. Bliss put together a patchwork of rides to finish the season -- ending the year with four top-10s in the last five races. Bliss had seven top-5s and 15 top-10s on the season.

2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Winners
Daytona -- Tony Stewart
Fontana -- Kyle Busch
Las Vegas -- Greg Biffle
Bristol -- Kevin Harvick
Texas -- Kyle Busch
Nashville -- Joey Logano
Phoenix -- Greg Biffle
Talladega -- David Ragan
Richmond -- Kyle Busch
Darlington -- Matt Kenseth
Charlotte -- Mike Bliss
Dover -- Brad Keselowski
Nashville -- Kyle Busch
Kentucky -- Joey Logano
Milwaukee -- Carl Edwards
Loudon -- Kyle Busch
Daytona -- Clint Bowyer
Chicago -- Joey Logano
Gateway -- Kyle Busch
ORP -- Carl Edwards
Iowa -- Brad Keselowski
Watkins Glen -- Marcos Ambrose
Michigan -- Brad Keselowski
Bristol -- David Ragan
Montreal -- Carl Edwards
Atlanta -- Kevin Harvick
Richmond -- Carl Edwards
Dover -- Clint Bowyer
Kansas -- Joey Logano
Fontana -- Joey Logano
Charlotte -- Kyle Busch
Memphis -- Brad Keselowski
Texas -- Kyle Busch
Phoenix -- Carl Edwards
Homestead -- Kyle Busch

Coming Next Week: 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Year in Review

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Year in Review

2010-01-06T15:02:00.004-05:00

Ron Hornaday was the story of the year for the Camping World Truck Series in 2009, and it wasn't even close -- even as a series champion lost his ride and the economy turned a very competitive series on its ear.

Why Hornaday, you ask? He won his fourth series championship, becoming the first driver to ever to win four Truck Series titles. At 51 years old, Hornaday became the oldest driver to ever win a NASCAR national touring series title. Hornaday also cruised to his title after a summer stretch that saw him win five straight races.

Hornaday won six races in 2009 -- just as he did in 2008. He also had 15 top-5s and 20 top-10s ... in 25 races. With an average start of 4.0 and an average finish of 6.4, Hornaday had the consistency to go along with his dominance in cruising to the title.

Matt Crafton finished second in the standings, 187 points behind Hornaday, despite not winning a race all season. Crafton recorded 11 top-5s and 21 top-10s, finishing second five times. Crafton's season-worst finish was 16th, which he did twice. Were it not for Hornaday's summer dominance, Crafton might've made the championship battle more of a fight, even if he never saw the checkered flag.

Kyle Busch won a season-high seven races, going back-to-back three times (Fontana-Atlanta, Bristol-Chicagoland and Talladega-Texas); had Busch run the full schedule -- he only made 15 starts -- he would've given Hornaday a run for his money.

Four drivers picked up their first career Camping World Truck Series wins in 2009; Brian Scott stretched his tires to pick up his first checkered flag at Dover, while Colin Braun edged Busch to win his first race at Michigan. Johnny Sauter won at Las Vegas, and Timothy Peters picked up his first checkered flag at Martinsville in October.

Sauter earned Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors, finishing sixth in the points with one win, seven top-5s and 13 top-10s, to go along with two poles.

Johnny Benson, who won the 2008 series title -- when it was still known as the Craftsman Truck Series -- lost his ride in June, a victim of the struggling economy. Benson was then injured in a wreck during a modified race the following week, thus ending his hopes of defending the title he won narrowly over Hornaday in 2008.

While the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series was light on financially-stable teams and competition atop the point standings, there was plenty of history to make up for it. Hornaday solidified himself as one of the series' all-time greats -- if not the all-time great -- and there's no reason to think he won't be a factor in 2010, even without crew chief Rick Ren.

2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Winners
Daytona -- Todd Bodine
Fontana -- Kyle Busch
Atlanta -- Kyle Busch
Martinsville -- Kevin Harvick
Kansas -- Mike Skinner
Charlotte -- Ron Hornaday
Dover -- Brian Scott
Texas -- Todd Bodine
Michigan -- Colin Braun
Milwaukee -- Ron Hornaday
Memphis -- Ron Hornaday
Kentucky -- Ron Hornaday
ORP -- Ron Hornaday
Nashville -- Ron Hornaday
Bristol -- Kyle Busch
Chicagoland -- Kyle Busch
Iowa -- Mike Skinner
Gateway -- Mike Skinner
Loudon -- Kyle Busch
Las Vegas -- Johnny Sauter
Martinsville -- Timothy Peters
Talladega -- Kyle Busch
Texas -- Kyle Busch
Phoenix -- Kevin Harvick
Homestead -- Kevin Harvick

Coming Next Week: 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Year in Review

Danica Mania!

2009-12-21T11:24:00.003-05:00

I've written here before about my opinion regarding Danica Patrick coming over to NASCAR. For those too lazy to click the link -- or have already read that piece -- the gist is thus: IndyCar needs Patrick, and her transition to stock cars would probably take a lot longer than her higher-ups might want.

In short, she was better off staying where she was.

But Patrick made the move anyway, announcing she would be running a partial schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this coming season for JR Motorsports. While her debut is expected to come in the season's second race at Auto Club Speedway, there's a chance she could make her debut at the season opener at Daytona.

Patrick will also run the ARCA race at Daytona on Feb. 6.

Patrick will run in the Nationwide Series on top of her IndyCar schedule; she renewed with Andretti Motorsport for three more years during the offseason. The IndyCar schedule is nowhere near as long as NASCAR's, and the open-wheel series doesn't run every week, so from a time and logistics standpoint, she could make it work.

Patrick will run some Nationwide races before the start of the IndyCar season in March, skip NASCAR in May while she gears up for the Indianapolis 500, run a few races during IndyCar off weeks, and round out her NASCAR schedule after IndyCar wraps up in October. She'll be a busy driver, but it's really not all that different from Sprint Cup drivers who hop on private jets to run Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series races at other venues.

My biggest concern regarding this move is this: if Patrick spends the year jumping back and forth between her IndyCar and her stock car, there's a chance she could struggle in both. Patrick has progressively improved each year she's been in IndyCar, even though she's only won one race in her career (Twin Ring Motegi in Japan in 2008). She finished a career-best fifth in the standings last season and came in a career-best third in the Indy 500.

And let's face it: if you didn't drive for Chip Ganassi or Roger Penske last year, you probably weren't going to win.

But each car requires a different feel, because they're so different aerodynamically and in terms of raw speed. IndyCars are much faster and lighter, while the heavier stock cars rely more on mechanical handling because of their relative areodynamic deficiencies. Patrick already has a learning curve coming up in getting herself acclimated to a stock car; how will she balance that with her IndyCar ride?

Maybe that's where scheduling comes in, with the bulk of her NASCAR races coming before and after the IndyCar season.

A lot of pundits will compare Patrick to the likes of Sam Hornish Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti -- saying she's doomed to fail in NASCAR because the other three haven't exactly set the stock-car world on fire after putting together far better open-wheel resumes than hers. On the surface, it's a fair argument, but it is, in fact, misguided.

Hornish never cut his teeth in the Nationwide Series before hopping into a Cup car. The same could be said of Franchitti and Montoya; sure, they ran Nationwide races, but it was while they were also learning Cup cars. Franchitti was also sidelined by a broken ankle at Talladega and a loss of sponsorship dollars.

Look at Hornish and Montoya; they've been driving stock cars for three years. Hornish is starting to come into his own, with several strong runs this past season, while Montoya made the Chase in seemingly inferior equipment and easily could've won a few races.

Patrick is not jumping into a Cup car; she's biding her time with ARCA and the Nationwide Series, aware that she needs to learn how to handle a stock car and how to run a stock car race (which in the Sprint Cup Series is far longer than the vast majority of IndyCar races). There's a learning curve to running stock cars, and it appears she understands that. It says a lot that someone of her star power is willing to climb up through the minor leagues.

What I'd be interested to see is how Patrick can manage her personality; she's a fierce competitor who doesn't take any crap from other drivers, and she comes from a series where you don't really see a lot of beating and banging. The first time someone leans on her or crumples one of her fenders, how does Patrick handle that?

I'd love to make a prediction regarding Patrick's performance this year, but there's really no telling. She's aligned herself with one of the better teams in the series; JR Motorsports is affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports, and the team finished third in the Nationwide Series point standings this past season with the No. 88 car.

If nothing else, it should be entertaining; this could be the shot in the arm the series needs. But I want Patrick to be careful, and I want her not to get ahead of herself. She's got the right mindset right now, but I want her to keep that mindset once the season starts and she struggles -- which I think she will initially.

After that? There's no telling.

Kasey Kahne surprises at Infineon

2009-06-22T11:52:00.002-04:00

The only thing more surprising than Kasey Kahne's victory on Sunday in the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway was the fact that he held off Tony Stewart -- one of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' best road course racers -- to do it.

Kahne even said so himself in Victory Lane.

But win Kahne did, picking up his first of the season and the 10th of his career. Kahne also got owner Richard Petty back into Victory Lane; the last time The King saw one of his cars win a race was in Martinsville, where John Andretti won in the No. 43 in 1999. For a team struggling with funding and resources, Kahne's win was a bright spot for Richard Petty Motorsports and a possible building block.

RPM also saw A.J. Allmendinger (seventh) and Elliott Sadler (10th) finish in the top 10.

Kahne led 37 laps in taking the win and putting himself three points outside of the cutoff for the Chase, but he really had to fend off Stewart, who finished second, to do it. On four separate occasions in the late stages of the race, Kahne had to battle Stewart on double-file restarts, trying to get the preferred line going up the hill and into the second and third turns. Amazingly, he was able to do so each time.

When you beat Stewart on a road course, you've really accomplished something.

The restarts worked better than most anticipated, creating excitement for the fans and turning the race into an exciting finish without creating too much chaos. Many of the turns heading up and down that hill after the start-finish line at Sonoma aren't wide enough to handle one car, so it was impressive to see restart after restart go incident-free. Infineon was the first true test of the new restart rule, and I daresay it was a success.

The race didn't come down to fuel mileage, thanks to the bevy of late cautions, but several teams tried that strategy to little avail. Robby Gordon, who's pretty stout on road courses in his own right, was the hardest hit. Leading during a round of green-flag pit stops, Gordon was trying to get into his fuel window when a caution flag came out before he had a chance to pit.

On an oval, pitting under caution is usually a good thing. But at Sonoma, with so many other cars on the track having already pitted, the strategy backfired on Gordon, who finished 36th.

As expected, the field surrounding the 12th spot in the standings tightened considerably. Juan Pablo Montoya finished sixth to vault himself into 12th place, but he's only three points ahead of Kahne, 40 ahead of David Reutimann and 46 ahead of Jeff Burton. Brian Vickers, in 17th, is only 123 points out of the Chase, while seventh-place Denny Hamlin is only 92 points ahead of 12th.

Though Kyle Busch is still in ninth, 45 points ahead of Montoya, his 22nd-place finish on Sunday was indicative of the way the No. 18 team has run the last several weeks -- really, since his win at Richmond back in early May. Even though Busch has three wins this season, tied for the most with Mark Martin, he is in danger of potentially missing the Chase if his team can't turn things around.

With Daytona in July and Watkins Glen in August still on the schedule, there's a chance for another jostle or two in the point standings. The Race to the Chase will likely come down to the wire again, and that, combined with the new double-file restarts, should make for some exciting racing heading down the "regular season" stretch.

Not that Kahne cares much. He's probably still sipping that Northern California wine in Victory Lane.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/SaveMart 350
1. Kasey Kahne**
2. Tony Stewart*
3. Marcos Ambrose
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Denny Hamlin*
6. Juan Pablo Montoya
7. A.J. Allmendinger
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Jeff Gordon
10. Elliott Sadler
11. Partick Carpentier
12. Max Papis
13. Carl Edwards
14. Jamie McMurray
15. Kurt Busch*
16. Brian Vickers*
17. Ryan Newman
18. Matt Kenseth
19. Joey Logano
20. Bobby Labonte
21. Paul Menard
22. Kyle Busch*
23. Casey Mears
24. Boris Said
25. Martin Truex Jr.
26. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
27. Ron Fellows
28. Greg Biffle
29. Kevin Harvick
30. John Andretti
31. David Reutimann
32. David Gilliland
33. David Ragan
34. Jeff Burton
35. Mark Martin
36. Robby Gordon*
37. Scott Speed*
38. Sam Hornish Jr.
39. David Stremme
40. Reed Sorenson
41. Brandon Ash
42. Dave Blaney
43. P.J. Jones

*led a lap (5 bonus points)
**led most laps (5 more bonus points)

Toyota/SaveMart 350 preview

2009-06-19T10:45:00.002-04:00

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will mix things up a bit this weekend, as the series heads to wine country in Sonoma, Calif. for the season's first road course race at Infineon Raceway. The Toyota/SaveMart 350 is one of just two stops on the schedule that requires drivers to turn left and right, adding a twist into the usual fare of oval racing.

Road course races are, by and large, unique creatures. Some Sprint Cup drivers will readily admit they're not good at it, and some teams will even replace their regular drivers for the weekend in favor of "road course ringers." This weekend, for instance, Michael Waltrip will give up his ride in the No. 55 NAPA Toyota for Patrick Carpentier. Phoenix Racing, which normally fields cars on a part-time basis with Sterling Marlin and Brad Keselowski, will bring in Ron Fellows for this weekend's race.

Boris Said and Brian Simo will also be among the road course specialists hoping to compete this weekend.

Even with the road course specialists, look for a Sprint Cup regular to take the checkered flag this weekend. Kyle Busch is the defending race winner (he actually won both road course races last season), but he'll have to contend with the likes of Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose if he wants to defend his title.

Jeff Gordon is the all-time winningest driver at Infineon, taking five checkered flags; his last came in 2006. Robby Gordon won here in 2003, and two of his three career Sprint Cup victories have come on road courses. Stewart, the points leader, has a pair of wins at Infineon, while Montoya picked up his only win in the series at this track two years ago.

Ambrose hasn't won at Infineon, but his road course background will serve him well. Ambrose won the Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen last season before finishing third in the Sprint Cup race there, and last year he ran well at Infineon before a broken transmission relegated him to a 42nd-place finish.

Jeff Gordon, Stewart and Montoya have the momentum heading into this weekend's event. Gordon finished second last week to gain some ground on Stewart in the points, though Stewart did rack up yet another top-10 finish at Michigan. Montoya has three top-10s in his last four races, and a strong performance at Infineon could be just the spark Montoya needs to vault himself into the Chase.

One thing to look out for is how the new double-file restarts will affect the race. The first two races under the new rule -- Pocono and Michigan -- were wide and gave the drivers a lot of room to run. Sonoma, with its narrow pavement and hilly terrain, does not. How will the drivers handle a restart with, say, 20 laps to go as they dive off into the first couple turns side-by-side? It should be exciting, and an old racing adage -- cautions breed cautions -- springs to mind.

That's assuming, of course, we see full-course cautions. Road courses tend to use local yellows, where there's no passing in that section of the track, but the rest of the course would remain clean and green.

Gotta love road course racing in NASCAR, if for no other reason than it's something different.

For all the attention the road course specialists get, it's always a safe bet to go with a full-time driver in the series. Look for Stewart to pick up his second victory of the season, celebrating in Victory Lane with a bottle of whatever wine's in season.

NASCAR talking to foreign automakers

2009-06-16T12:05:00.004-04:00

NASCAR chairman Brian France admitted over the weekend at Michigan International Speedway that the sanctioning body was talking to several foreign manufacturers about the possibility of entering the sport in the coming years. France wouldn't reveal the name of those manufacturers, but said that in order to qualify for admission into the sport, the companies had to have manufacturing plants in the United States.

With both General Motors and Chrysler facing bankruptcy issues, and in one degree or another pulling their support from the teams, the move makes some sense; you can bet NASCAR wants to have more than two manufacturers in the sport who aren't in need of government assistance. Not that Ford and Toyota are doing all that great, but they're certainly better off than Chevrolet and Dodge.

Among the foreign automakers with American plants: Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. None of those companies make engines that would meet NASCAR's comparatively-archaic technological specifications, but if Toyota was willing to take that challenge, I would imagine a lot of these other automakers would, as well.

When NASCAR let Toyota into the sport, they used the same logic; Toyota had plants in America that were being used to build their automobiles, so NASCAR allowed those makes to be represented. The Tundra, manufactured in America, was introduced to the Camping World Truck Series in 2004, while the Camry -- built in Kentucky -- made its NASCAR debut in the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series in 2007.

An unfair foreign invasion, you say? While the Camry is being built in America, the Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Impala and Dodge Charger are not. Fusions are built in Canada, while Impalas and Chargers are being built in Mexico. All the while plants and dealers are shutting their doors in this country.

Good ol' red, white and blue, right?

Don't get me wrong; I love America as much as the next guy. I'm even a proponent of buying American (I own a 1997 Pontiac, and it saddens me to know I'll never be able to buy a new one) ... but when the likes of Toyota and Honda are putting out a better product, who are we to blame people if they want to take advantage of that? It's not NASCAR's fault American automakers are in such trouble, and NASCAR is not flying in the face of tradition by listening to foreign manufacturers.

I'm sorry to tell you this, NASCAR purists, but the sky will not fall if Honda fields a Cup car in 2012.

Personally, as long as the manufacturers represented in NASCAR have American plants, and the vehicles running around the tracks are built in America, then what's the big deal? Sure, Toyota is a Japanese company, but the Camry that flies around the track every Saturday and Sunday is built right here in America.

There is a chance such a move isn't needed; if GM, Chrysler and Ford all make it out of their respective financial issues without having to completely pull out of NASCAR, the sanctioning body might decide it likes where it is with four manufacturers. But NASCAR does need to have a plan in place, just in case the manufacturers have to pull out completely.

Besides, Toyota isn't the first foreign make to run in NASCAR. Do a little research into the sport's history, and you'll see foreign cars littering the early years. In the early days, NASCAR ran Aston Martins, Austin-Healeys, Citroens, Jaguars, MGs, Morgans, Porsches, Renaults and Volkswagens.

In a road race in Linden, N.J. in 1954, in fact, Jaguars finished first, fourth, fifth and sixth. So it's not like NASCAR opening its doors to foreign nameplates would be anything earth-shattering or unique. If Big Bill France was willing to let it happen back in the day, then why should be villify Brian France if he's considering the same thing?

With almost all American companies trying to outsource overseas, NASCAR is trying to reward car companies that have plants -- and by extension, jobs -- right here in the United States. Really, what's so wrong with that?

EDIT: Jenna Fryer, who covers NASCAR for The Associated Press, wrote an interesting article on this subject. You can read it by clicking here.

Mark Martin wins LifeLock 400

2009-06-15T11:50:00.002-04:00

For the second straight week, a NASCAR Sprint Cup race came down to fuel mileage -- and for the second straight week, Jimmie Johnson found himself a few gallons short of potential glory.

Johnson, the three-time defending series champion, had the dominant car in Sunday's LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway, leading 142 of 200 laps. But after a spirited -- and ultimately ill-advised -- battle with Greg Biffle in the closing laps, Johnson ran out of gas coming to the white flag. Biffle took over the lead, only to also run out on the backstretch on the last lap.

Enter Mark Martin, who was running third and biding his time. Admittedly never one to catch the break when a race boiled down to fuel mileage, Martin was conserving all he could, content to finish in the top-5 while Biffle and Johnson duked it out for what they thought would be the win. However, that battle cost both drivers precious gallons of fuel, and even though Martin also ran out coming to the checkered flag, he was far enough ahead of second-place Jeff Gordon that it didn't matter.

Though Michigan gets a bad rap from the fans for boring racing, such was not the case on Sunday. There was plenty of side-by-side racing throughout the pack, with drivers running high, low and through the middle while jockeying for position. There were plenty of instances of three- and even four-wide racing, particularly on the new double-file restarts.

Leaders can still run away from the rest of the field; there were times on Sunday where Johnson had a 7- to 8-second lead. But really, I seem to recall the old car doing the same thing, so it's not like a runaway, dominant leader is anything new. If a team hits the setup just right, that combined with clean air creates one smoking fast race car.

Johnson had that on Sunday, but the fuel mileage game bit the No. 48 once again.

Though Martin picked up his third win of the season, which tied him with Kyle Busch for the most in the series this season, vaulted him to eighth in the points and gave him another 10 bonus points for the Chase, Johnson is still the man to beat. Don't look for Johnson and Chad Knaus to waste too many more opportunities like Sunday, where they spanked the field and arguably should've won the race.

Still, Martin won the race. Fuel mileage wins might feel cheap to the fans, but it's part of the territory. The winner of the race is the guy who reaches the checkered flag first, regardless of whether that's a matter of dominating, having more fuel than everyone else or just being out front when Mother Nature decides to interrupt things.

A win is a win is a win is a win. The trophies and checkered flags don't care how you got there ... just that you did. Former NASCAR driver Dick Trickle once told Martin, "In order to finish first, you must first finish," and that's exactly what Martin did on Sunday. When Biffle and Johnson couldn't finish, Martin did, and his reward was yet another win and another reminder that he'll probably have a lot to say about who wins the championship this season.

And come on ... who isn't happy when Martin pulls into Victory Lane?

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock 400
1. Mark Martin*
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Denny Hamlin*
4. Carl Edwards*
5. Greg Biffle*
6. Juan Pablo Montoya
7. Tony Stewart
8. Kurt Busch
9. Brian Vickers
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Jamie McMurray
12. Elliott Sadler
13. Kyle Busch*
14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
15. David Ragan
16. Bill Elliott
17. Robby Gordon
18. Kevin Harvick
19. David Reutimann
20. Matt Kenseth
21. Kasey Kahne
22. Jimmie Johnson**
23. Ryan Newman
24. Casey Mears
25. Joey Logano
26. Jeff Burton
27. Reed Sorenson
28. Bobby Labonte
29. Sam Hornish Jr.
30. Michael Waltrip
31. Marcos Ambrose
32. David Gilliland
33. John Andretti
34. Paul Menard
35. Max Papis
36. Martin Truex Jr.
37. Scott Speed
38. David Stremme
39. A.J. Allmendinger
40. Dave Blaney
41. Sterling Marlin
42. Joe Nemechek
43. Tony Raines

*led a lap (5 bonus points)
**led most laps (5 more bonus points)

LifeLock 400 Preview

2009-06-12T10:35:00.002-04:00

After a week in which it was revealed that Jeremy Mayfield allegedly tested positive for meth and Brendan Gaughan's crew chief in the Nationwide Series was suspended indefinitely for allegedly using a racial slur against driver Marc Davis (way to show everyone NASCAR's not a redneck sport, guys ...), isn't it nice to know we're just going to go racing again this weekend?

The Sprint Cup Series comes to Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the LifeLock 400, the first of two trips to the 2-mile oval just outside Detroit. Michigan's economic devastation will be in the spotlight this week, particularly with two of the auto industry's biggest hitters -- Chrysler and GM -- in the middle of bankruptcy.

How that will ultimately affect Dodge and Chevrolet in NASCAR remains to be seen (Dodge has already reportedly stopped paying Richard Petty Motorsports and Chevrolet has reportedly cut support to its Truck Series and Nationwide Series teams), but the race should provide a moment of happiness for the automakers.

Well, unless a Toyota wins. That'll sour a few moods in Michigan.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won this race last year, to date his only points-paying win for Hendrick Motorsports. He took the race under caution by playing the fuel mileage game, one of the rare good calls made by former crew chief Tony Eury Jr. While it was expected at the time the win would open the proverbial flood gates, the exact opposite seems to have happened.

But we already know about the No. 88's struggles this season (27th at Pocono -- third such finish in the last five races), so let's concentrate on other things -- notably, the fact that Michigan seems to be Jack Roush's personal playground. Roush loves coming to Michigan, and he puts in more effort here than almost anywhere else in the series. Carl Edwards won here last August, his second career Michigan win, while Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth also have two wins apiece there.

Six wins in the last seven years at Michigan for Roush; if you're busy setting up your fantasy roster for this weekend's race, you better get yourself a nice helping of Edwards, Biffle and Kenseth. Edwards, especially; since his early-season struggles, the preseason title favorite has three top-10 finishes, including a fourth at Charlotte and a runner-up finish to Tony Stewart last week at Pocono.

Edwards was the dominant car last week, losing when Stewart beat him out of the pits on the last stop and having to conserve fuel late. But make no mistake; the No. 99 team is hitting its stride, and if Edwards can knock out a win or two as the summer rolls along, he should nicely solidify himself into the Chase field.

But don't forget Biffle, who's always strong as Michigan, or Kenseth. Kenseth, after winning the Daytona 500 to open the season, also won at Michigan's sister track in Fontana. Though it's been a little bit of a struggle since then for the No. 17, Kenseth has been strong of late, and there's no better place for a Roush driver to come than Michigan to get right.

Stewart has one career win at Michigan to go along with nine top-5s and 13 top-10s, which will go along nicely with the momentum he's built. Not just the win at Pocono, but in seven of his last nine races, Stewart has finished fourth or better.

No wonder he's leading the point standings.

Jimmie Johnson is surprisingly pedestrian at Michigan -- no wins in 14 career starts -- but the way his team has run the last two weeks, he has to be considered among the favorites. The No. 48 usually doesn't hit its stride this soon, but with a convincing win at Dover, and a top-10 at Pocono despite running out of fuel on the last lap, Johnson is starting to come into his own, and I think he'll have something to say on Sunday.

Speaking of fuel, Michigan races do occasionally come down to fuel mileage (see last year's race). That could inevitably throw a monkey wrench into things, and if that's the case, then there's really no telling who can win. To be fair, though, Edwards showed last season he could save a lot of fuel (he even did so last week at Pocono ... he just happened to be behind Stewart because of that late pit stop).

Still, even with that potential variable, I'm picking Edwards to win this race. I realize this is the third time I've picked him this season, and we've still yet to see the backflip, but this is Michigan, and the way Edwards has been running of late, it's only a matter of time before we see the No. 99 back in Victory Lane.

So why not Michigan?

ESPN The Mag: Mayfield tested positive for Meth

2009-06-10T10:27:00.002-04:00

Ryan McGee, a motorsports writer for ESPN The Magazine, reported on Tuesday that two independent sources claimed that Sprint Cup Series driver/owner Jeremy Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamines at Richmond International Raceway last month in the drug test that led to his indefinite suspension from NASCAR.

Mayfield has asserted his innocence from day one, rounding up a team of lawyers to sue NASCAR. The sanctioning body has since countersued, and the two are expected to face a lengthy battle in court over the coming months. Mayfield, who this year started up his own team and was the sport's feel-good story when he made the field for the Daytona 500, claimed he took nothing more than a prescribed ADHD medication (Adderall XR) and a double dose of the over-the-counter medication Claritin D.

(In the interest of full disclosure, Claritin D is a NASCAR sponsor, featured prominently on Carl Edwards' No. 99 Ford Fusion and in commercials during race telecasts.)

According to the report, the test did find Adderall XR and Claritin D in his system, but it also found a third substance, the name of which had been redacted from court documents. But according to the anonymous sources, that substance was methamphetamine, or meth for short.

Adderall XR is an amphetamine, designed to help with focus and concentration, and has been said to cause positive tests for meth if the dosage was strong enough (or the drug test wasn't terribly advanced). But considering the lab NASCAR uses to conduct the tests is one of the world's foremost testing labs (AEGIS Sciences) -- and the same lab that conducts drug tests for almost all professional sports leagues, the Olympics and 85 NCAA-sanctioned universities -- chances are they can spot the difference between amphetamines and methamphetamines.

If true, this backs up NASCAR lawyer Paul Hendrick's assertion that Mayfield tested positive for a "dangerous, illegal banned substance." Neither NASCAR nor Mayfield could respond to Tuesday's report, due to a gag order placed by the court in lieu of the next court date (which has yet to be determined).

If this report is true, and at this point I don't really have any reason to believe it isn't, this effectively ends Mayfield's career -- as it should. Auto racing is no place for recreational or performance-enhancing drugs; the whole reason NASCAR changed its drug-testing policy last summer was because of Aaron Fike's 2007 admission that he once drove in a Camping World Truck Series race while high on heroin.

And really, is being hopped up on meth any worse?

Driving a car at speeds approaching 200 mph inches from your nearest competitors is hard enough for someone who is of sound mind and body; throw drugs into the mix, and the danger is raised exponentially. When Martin Truex Jr. passed on taking painkillers when he passed a kidney stone the night before this year's Atlanta race, it was for that very reason; he didn't want the medication to impair him inside the car and possibly endanger his fellow competitors.

A certain amount of trust is needed in this sport; when you dive into a corner at 185 mph inches from the other guy, you have to trust that he knows you're there and won't do anything to needlessly endanger you. If Mayfield was using meth, and it was still in his system when he was in the car, that trust has been violated.

What if Mayfield had hurt or killed someone? What if his drug use contributed to an accident that left another driver or fans injured ... or worse? It might not seem all that likely, but auto racing is unpredictable that way. Who could've foreseen Edwards flying into the catchfence at Talladega a couple months back? Who could've imagined that February 2001 crash at Daytona killing Dale Earnhardt?

You just never know.

If Mayfield was indeed taking meth (and given his track record, I see no reason to believe him), he doesn't deserve to be reinstated. Ever. Drugs and NASCAR don't mix, and they never will. Besides, if Mayfield was indeed being prescribed Adderall, why didn't he tell NASCAR beforehand? Why wait until it was his turn to be tested? That seems like something I'd be telling NASCAR before the season even started, with documentation and everything.

Mayfield needs help more than anything else, and I hope he gets it, but if I were in charge of NASCAR, I would never let him back behind the wheel. With all of NASCAR's safety advances over the past eight years, letting Mayfield back, even after a stint in rehab, would fly in the face of all those advancements.

Now, with all that said ... I don't know about you, but I can't wait until this weekend, where we can actually get to racing again.

Defending series champion loses ride

2009-06-09T11:36:00.002-04:00

Johnny Benson won't be defending his Camping World Truck Series title.

Red Horse Racing announced on Monday that it would shut down the No. 1 team, effective immediately, because of a lack of sponsorship. That leaves Benson, a 14-time winner in the series, without a ride.

"It hasn't been for a lack of effort," owner Tom DeLoach said on Monday. "We had several people working on finding a sponsor for the No. 1 and Johnny Benson. I've been working on it myself. We gave it our best shot, and we tried as long as we could, but nothing materialized.

"I am saddened that we were unsuccessful in accomplishing our goal, but this is a tough economic climate and the cost of fielding a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team with essentially no support other than our manufacturer is too much for Red Horse Racing to bear alone."

The economic downturn and its effects on NASCAR are well known, but for a defending series champion to lose his ride because of a lack of fund is indeed a sad state of affairs. Benson finished fourth in this past Friday night's race at Texas Motor Speedway and say seventh in points, 155 behind leader Matt Crafton.

The economy already hurt Benson once in the offseason, when he left Bill Davis Racing -- the team with which he won the championship -- because of the team's uncertain economic future. BDR sold all its assets in January and has not entered a race this season.

This is just the latest blow.

"The decision to close the team is a bit surprising, because they told me they wanted to build a championship-claiber race team," Benson said. "They hired a champion driver and a champion crew, and then decide to close the team instead of building the organization around it. So I am a little confused."

Red Horse Racing will continue to field the No. 11 truck driven by T.J. Bell. That team has some support, but not full. Bell only has one top-5 finish in eight starts this season, and sits 20th in the standings.

So, with all due respect to Bell, why not shut the No. 11 down and transfer whatever funding the team has to Benson? Were sponsors really that set on Bell? Who wouldn't want to associate themselves with a defending series champion? I don't blame Benson for being confused, and I'm willing to guess he's also a bit angry.

Chances are, Benson will miss this weekend's race at Michigan, meaning that even if he does line up another ride this season, he'll have virtually no shot at the championship. The series schedule only consists of 25 races, so missing one effectively kills your chances; before the Texas race, Kyle Busch was fourth in points. He didn't run that race, and now sits 12th in the standings.

Benson will be okay; he also serves as an analyst for ESPN, seen mostly on ESPN2's NASCAR Now. He'll also likely find himself in a truck again before the season's out, but there is definitely something wrong when the most recent series champion can't find the funding to go out to the track and try to defend his crown.

Especially when he gets the axe instead of his underperforming teammate.

Stewart Haas ahead of schedule

2009-06-09T11:06:00.002-04:00

Tony Stewart isn't an owner-driver in the same vein as Ricky Rudd back in the 1990s or even Robby Gordon today. He doesn't go at it largely on his own, building his own equipment and compiling his own resources. Stewart, who now owns 50 percent of the team that was once Haas-CNC Racing after winning two NASCAR Sprint Cup championships with Joe Gibbs Racing, gets a lot of his equipment from Hendrick Motorsports.

But that doesn't make what he did Sunday at Pocono -- and really, what he's done all season -- any less impressive. Naysayers will instantly point to the connection to Hendrick Motorsports, conveniently forgetting that the team was receiving Hendrick engines and chassis long before Stewart took over.

Last year, Haas-CNC's two cars had Hendrick equipment ... and struggled to stay in the Top 35 in owner points. With Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter behind the wheel, the No. 66 and No. 70 were struggling just to make races. The equipment was there, but the personnel and the professional know-how weren't.

Fast-forward to this year. Stewart Haas Racing still gets Hendrick engines and chassis, but look at the biggest differences. Riggs and Sauter are out; Stewart and Ryan Newman are now the drivers. Add an expert engineering mind in Darian Grubb as Stewart's crew chief, throw in longtime Richard Childress Racing mastermind Bobby Hutchens as competition director and sprinkle in a few more strong engineering minds, and what you have is one impressive -- and surprisingly quick -- turnaround.

This team has always had the Hendrick support; it just never really knew what to do with it. Sponsorship dollars also are not to be overlooked; whereas Riggs and Sauter couldn't command high-end sponsorship dollars, Stewart -- and by extention, Newman -- can. When Stewart announced this deal, he almost immediately brought in such sponsors as Office Depot, Old Spice, the U.S. Army and Burger King.

In NASCAR, sponsorship dollars go a long way, especially when one considers how hard they are to come by these days.

At the end of the day, though, NASCAR is a people business. Sure, fast cars will win you races, but those cars don't magically appear out of thin air. People have to build them. Tires don't change themselves, and fuel tanks don't instantly refill; people do that. There are hundreds of people who put in thousands of hours of hard work back at the shop during the week who hardly ever actually get to go to the track, and their efforts have as much to do with a team's success as the drivers.

Of course, having Stewart and Newman as drivers certainly doesn't hurt.

One of the reasons Joe Gibbs has been so successful as a car owner was because of his commitment to people. Hiring high-quality people of character and getting them to buy into the company philosophy; it's a process that's yielded three Sprint Cup trophies over the past decade. Even if there are combustible personalities within the organization, Gibbs knows how to massage them and balance them with calmer influences. The sometimes-childish Kyle Busch is balanced out by crew chief Steve Addington, much the way a younger, more firey Stewart was countered by the steady Greg Zippadeli.

Stewart learned his lesson well from the decade he spent driving for the former NFL coach; people are what make a successful race team. Stewart made all the right moves once he decided to take over Haas-CNC, tagging Hutchens and Grubb, among others, to work for him.

Grubb in particular was a master pick-up. A longtime Hendrick employee and Virginia Tech graduate, Grubb gives the team a voice who knows what to do with the equipment Hendrick gives them. Grubb has proven himself as a crew chief, winning the 2006 Daytona 500 with Jimmie Johnson after Chad Knaus was suspended for a violation. Grubb was also a proven engineering mind, serving much of last season in an advisory capacity with the No. 88 car. Before Grubb left to prepare for his job with Stewart Haas, Grubb helped Dale Earnhardt Jr. to a top-three points position.

Anyone care to guess how the No. 88's done since Grubb left? And do you think RCR misses Hutchens?

Stewart's been money behind the wheel as well, picking up 10 top-10 finishes in the season's first 14 races. On top of his first points-paying win at Pocono, Stewart has racked up seven top-5 finishes in his last nine races; such consistency is the way to winning a title, even with the Chase for the Cup was introduced back in 2004.

Stewart holds a 71-point lead over Jeff Gordon, becoming the first owner-driver since the late Alan Kulwicki in 1992 to lead the points; Kulwicki won the championship that season in a classic duel with Bill Elliott and Davey Allison. Stewart has only led the point standings twice before in his career: 2002 and 2005. Both years, he went on to win the championship.

Oh, Stewart also won the Sprint All-Star Race last month.

Not to be forgotten, Newman has catapulted himself to fourth in the standings. His more recent struggles at Penske Racing long forgotten, the engineering graduate from Purdue has five top-5 finishes in his last six races. His worst finish in that stretch was an eighth-place run at Dover.

Can either driver win the championship this season? I think so, and what an accomplishment it would be. Hendrick equipment and support notwithstanding, for Stewart to take an organization that once hoped to make races and turn it into a company that expects to wind up in Victory Lane every week is nothing to sneeze at.

A lot of people thought Stewart crazy, even stupid, to leave Gibbs and go out on his own like this, but the two-time champion is proving it can be done, and he's having a ball in the process. I'm not sure if this will start a trend in the Sprint Cup Series, particularly with the economy as weak as it is, but what Stewart's doing deserves the appropriate praise.

And if I'm the competition, I'm taking notice. This team is for real.

Kyle Busch: Good For NASCAR?

2009-06-08T11:33:00.002-04:00

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is NASCAR's most popular driver, then perhaps Kyle Busch is the exact opposite ... something akin to NASCAR Public Enemy No. 1.

Last year's incident at Richmond International Raceway has a lot to do with it ... you know, the one where Busch made contact with Earnhardt with two laps to go, sending Junior spinning into the fence and robbing him of his first points-paying win for Hendrick Motorsports? Busch was already not well-liked among the fans, for several reasons, but that one instant not only overshadowed Clint Bowyer winning the race, but it turned even more fans against the Las Vegas native.

But, even with his maturity issues, is Busch good for NASCAR? Whether we want to admit it or not, he is. Busch and Earnhardt may not have a rivalry (it's hard to have a rivalry when only one guy's enjoying success), but NASCAR needs a villain. It needs someone willing to spice things up, someone who says and does pretty much whatever he wants with little regard to how others perceive him.

Cheer him or boo him, chastise him on message boards and think of clever names for him (Cryle Boosh is one of my personal favorites), NASCAR needs Kyle Busch right now. With television ratings and attendance lower than usual, and some fans turning away because of a perceived lack of concern from the sanctioning body and seemingly poor competition, Busch's antics are exactly what the sport needs.

And let's admit it; even if you hate a driver, you follow what he does, right? If you hate Busch and he wins, don't you enjoy booing him and expressing your displeasure? If he wrecks or has some other type of misfortune, don't you get a kick out of it? Don't you love letting him know just how you really feel when they call his name at driver introductions?

I know I do. Because as much as I don't like Kyle Busch, he generates interest. He gets people talking about NASCAR.

When he wins, people talk about how talented he is. When he doesn't win and storms off without talking to the media, people talk about that. He's called immature, and rightly so, but even when he doesn't say a word, he gets everyone else talking. Some fans rail on him for not talking when he has trouble, other fans defend it.

FOX analyst Darrell Waltrip adamantly defends Busch, probably because he sees so much of himself in the guy, while Mike Joy has said that he would love to see Busch step forward after not winning and explain what happened. Regardless of what opinion one has of Busch, expressing said opinion is good for the sport.

His comments toward Earnhardt, particularly before the Dover race, where he said, "It's never Junior, it's always the crew chief," also do nothing for his image. It makes Busch look immature and bitter, even though his career has flourished since he left Hendrick Motorsports and joined Joe Gibbs Racing.

For Busch, winning isn't enough; he has to let everyone know he's doing better than the guy who effectively replaced him. As someone wiser than me once said, if you have to go out of your way to tell everyone how good you are, then you're really not.

Take this weekend's Nationwide Series race at Nashville. ESPN2's cameras caught Busch as he flew into the track on a helicopter during Saturday afternoon's qualifying session. Busch then gave the camera -- and everyone watching on TV -- the middle finger. Though I haven't seen the media make much of this move, you better believe the fans noticed.

Then, after winning the Nationwide Series race that night, Busch took the custom-made Gibson guitar trophy -- one of the sport's most treasured and unique trophies -- and made like a drugged-up rock star as he smashed the thing into pieces on the ground. Designer Sam Bass was reportedly okay with that, and Busch said he did it in order to share the trophy with his crew, but again ... fans ripped him a new one for it.

Some media members did, as well -- TNT's Kyle Petty among them. Others, like Larry McReynolds and SPEED's Bob Dillner, were okay with the move, saying Busch earned the trophy and could do whatever he wanted.

Personally, you don't do that to a trophy. It disrespects the sport and the other 42 drivers you just beat. There is no doubt in my mind Brad Keselowski or Carl Edwards, or even Brendan Gaughan, would've killed to be holding that thing in Victory Lane, and I bet they wouldn't have smashed it to pieces.

Trophies are so hard to come by in NASCAR, it seems disrespectful to trash one like that.

No one with a brain can deny Busch's talent; 51 wins across all three of NASCAR's national touring series is nothing to sneeze at. He has 11 Sprint Cup wins in almost a season and a half with JGR, so the combination of him with crew chief Steve Addington has obviously created some magic.

People aren't booing Busch because of his talent. Some of it is guilt by association; fans didn't much care for older brother Kurt when he first came into the series, largely because he was also arrogant and immature. Kyle has upped the ante on that, even as Kurt has mellowed and matured over the years (thank Jimmy Spencer and a few years of mediocrity with Penske Racing for that).

In the eyes of many fans, Kyle Busch is petulant and childish. His attitude, from bowing to the fans when he wins to cursing out his crew over the radio to storming off after a race without speaking to the media, endears him to almost no one. Taking digs at the sport's most popular driver and his actions Saturday at Nashville also don't help.

I appreciate the talent; I just don't appreciate the person who has it.

Could Busch, who is just 24, mature as he ages, particularly if he endures a rough stretch without much success? Possibly, but to be perfectly honest, I don't want him to mature. I have far too much fun hating him, and I'm willing to bet a lot of fans feel that way. He makes it so easy and so fun to dislike him, and that's great for NASCAR. The sport should probably fine him for the finger on TV, or what he did to the trophy in Nashville, but they won't, because NASCAR understands that it needs a villain.

Busch can talk all he wants about how he's not out there to be a villain, but you know he loves it. He wouldn't egg on the fans the way he does otherwise. A lot of people hate Kyle Busch -- myself included -- but that's okay, because it draws interest to the sport at a time when it desperately needs it.

So go on acting like a spoiled baby, Kyle Busch. We'll keep on booing you -- and enjoying every minute of it.

Stewart stretches fuel, wins at Pocono

2009-06-08T11:07:00.003-04:00

Tony Stewart stretched his fuel over the final 41 laps to win the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, picking up his first points-paying win as an owner/driver with Stewart Haas Racing, the culmination of an unexpectedly impressive journey in the champion's career.

Not only did Stewart extend his series lead over Jeff Gordon to 71 points and earn himself 10 bonus points for the Chase, but he also became the first owner/driver to win a Sprint Cup Series points race since Ricky Rudd won at Martinsville in 1998. While Stewart's accomplishment isn't quite as impressive as Rudd's, it's a remarkable achievement nonetheless ... especially if one considers Stewart started shotgun on Sunday.

Rain on Friday handed him the pole, but Stewart spun in Saturday practice, tearing the front splitter off the car and forcing the No. 14 crew to break out the backup car. Though Stewart ultimately won because of fuel mileage -- coasting halfway down the straightaways and keeping his foot off the throttle through the turns -- Stewart was one of the fastest cars all day, and was easily top-5 caliber.

Still, to start 43rd at Pocono and march to the front like he did? Stewart earned this win, fuel mileage or no.

Perhaps more impressive than Stewart's win and points lead, teammate Ryan Newman has ended his early-season struggles. He finished fifth on Sunday to rack up yet another top-5 finish and vault himself to fourth in the standings. Stewart Haas Racing is much further along at this point than anyone expected, and both drivers are a threat for the championship.

For the balance of the day, it looked like this race was Carl Edwards' to lose. He led a race-high 103 laps, and even overcame an early pit miscue where his crew didn't get the fuel tank completely full. He played the fuel game at the end as well as Stewart, but Edwards couldn't mount a charge after Stewart beat him off pit road under the last caution.

Still, that makes three straight finishes of seventh or better for Edwards. The preseason title favorite is still winless in 2009 (after piling up nine wins last season), but the No. 99 team is starting to hit its stride, and Edwards might just rattle off a few wins before we head back to Richmond for the last race before the Chase.

Jimmie Johnson also looked strong, leading early and easily having a top-5 car. But he caught a bad break when a caution flew just as he was committing to pit road. With pit road closed before Johnson hit the commitment line, the No. 48 was penalized and sent to the back of the pack. Even with that, Johnson was running third on the final lap before he ran out of fuel, coasting over half the 2.5-mile triangle to come in seventh.

One driver who was expected to be a factor, Denny Hamlin, really wasn't. A two-time winner at Pocono, Hamlin paced Saturday's final practice session. But when the green flag flew on Sunday, Hamlin's car shut off. It did the same roughly 10 laps later after the team tried to fix the problem, and Hamlin wound up finishing 38th.

More bad luck for the increasingly pessimistic Hamlin.

Pocono also marked the first time this season the series used the double-file restart. The move was perfect for Pocono, because of how large and wide the track is, and it'll also work well this coming weekend at Michigan International Speedway. But the fact is, the new rule improved the racing, and though the change wasn't monumental, it did improve competition.

Every little bit helps.

Still, with his first win of the season (second, if you count the All-Star Race), Stewart has officially solidified himself as a title contender. That's nothing short of amazing, considering where the Stewart Haas team was a year ago, and we're heading into the summer months, where Stewart is money; 30 of his 34 career wins have come in June or later. Before this season, Stewart had only led the point standings twice: in 2002 and 2005. He won the championship both seasons, the only driver to win titles under the old format and the current Chase formula.

If I'm the rest of the field, I'm worried. Actually, make that downright scared.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono 500
1. Tony Stewart*
2. Carl Edwards**
3. David Reutimann
4. Jeff Gordon*
5. Ryan Newman*
6. Marcos Ambrose
7. Jimme Johnson*
8. Juan Pablo Montoya
9. Jeff Burton
10. Sam Hornish Jr.
11. Greg Biffle*
12. Clint Bowyer
13. Jamie McMurray*
14. Casey Mears*
15. Kasey Kahne
16. Matt Kenseth*
17. Michael Waltrip
18. Martin Truex Jr.
19. Mark Martin*
20. Reed Sorenson
21. Brian Vickers
22. Kyle Busch
23. Joey Logano
24. Kevin Harvick
25. Elliott Sadler*
26. David Ragan
27. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
28. Bobby Labonte
29. Paul Menard
30. A.J. Allmendinger
31. Robby Gordon
32. Scott Speed
33. Regan Smith
34. David Stremme
35. John Andretti
36. Dexter Bean
37. Kurt Busch*
38. Denny Hamlin
39. Sterling Marlin
40. Dave Blaney
41. Joe Nemechek
42. David Gilliland
43. Patrick Carpentier

*led a lap (5 bonus points)
**led most laps *5 more bonus points)